The Generation of the Romantic Ideal by a Self-Disordered Patient

Abstract

This article examines the therapeutic process of a patient thought to be suffering from an idealistic perfectionism. After extensive research on topics of specialness, indulgence, and grandiosity, concepts such as Kernberg’s vision of narcissistic disorder and Kohut’s vision of self-disorder are used to assess the patient’s progress in treatment.

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Notes on contributors

Estelle Shane

Estelle Shane is cofounder, past president, faculty member, training/supervising analyst, and on the board of directors, The Institute of Contemporary Analysis, Los Angeles; training and supervising analyst and faculty member, New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles; and faculty member, Department of Psychiatry, UCLA. She is past president of IAPSP and on the advisory board of IARPP. She has authored numerous papers and coauthored Intimate Attachments, A Developmental Systems Self Psychology.