The dialectic between self-determination and intersubjectivity in creating the experience of self.

This paper explores the concept of delineation in light of the dialectical process as currently defined in the relational or intersubjective literature. Although this concept is also based on projective identification processes, we see it as a broader concept. Using the modern dialectic model we propose two modes of delineation. One mode involves an interaction between the subjective organizing principles of the family and its members, on the one hand, and the child's own subjective organizing principles, on the other hand, in a mutual process of construction, destruction, and reconstruction of self-definition. We term this concept mutual intersubjective delineation. The second mode of delineation is the individual experience of selfhood or "me"-ness as a monadic entity removed from all contextual interaction with other and thus termed the self-determined delineation. These two modes of delineation are seen as inherent, mutually defining processes of personality development. The manner in which the adolescent negotiates the dialectic tension between these two modes of delineation is seen as an essential process in the development of a dynamic, vital, and integrated self.

A psychoanalytical approach to integrating family and individual therapy in the treatment of adolescents. A case study.

An integrated model of object relations family therapy and a self psychology-oriented individual therapy is presented in the form of a case study of an adolescent. The therapy strives to create and negotiate a balance between deconstructing the family's defensive delineations of the adolescent and helping him to form new building blocks of self-representation. The integrated model both highlights and adeptly addresses the unavoidable adolescent issue of conflicted loyalty between self and family as reflected in the adolescent's internal and external psychological world.