Table Of ContentThe Mind Object
The Mind Object
Precocity and
Pathology of
Self-Sufficiency
edited by
Edward G. Corrigan, Ph.D.
Pearl-Ellen Gordon, Ph.D.
JASON ARONSON INC.
North,.,ale, New Jersey
London
The editors gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint excerpts from "Interior" by Dor
othy Parker, from The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker, introduction by Brendan
Gill. Copyright© 1928, renewed© 1956 by Dorothy Parker. Used by permission of Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., and Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., Lon
don, UK.
This book was set in 11 pt. Bodoni Antiqua by Alpha Graphics of Pittsfield, New Hamp
shire, and printed and bound by Book-mart Press of North Bergen, New Jersey.
Copyright © 1995 by Jason Aronson Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Library of Congre88 Cataloglng-in-Publleatlon Data
The mind object : precocity and pathology of self-sufficiency I edited by Edward G. Corrigan
and Pearl-Ellen Gordon.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-56821-480-1
L Object relations (Psychoanalysis) 2. Ego (Psychology)
3. Object constancy (Psychoanalysis) I. Corrigan, Edward G.
II. Gordon, Pearl-Ellen.
BF175.5.024M56 1995
l50.19'5-dc20 95-9997
Manufactured in the United States of America. Jason Aronson Inc. offers books and cas
settes. For information and catalog write to Jason Aronson Inc., 230 Livingston Street,
Northvale, New Jersey 07647.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments d.
Contributon IX
Introduction :dll
Edward G. Corrigan and Pearl-Ellen Gordon
I The Mind as an Object I
Edward G. Corrigan and Pearl-Ellen Gordon
2 A Phllosopher and His Mind 23
Nina Coltart
3 The Development of Mind-as-Object 4I
Harold Stewart
4 "Undentandi.ng Too Much"
The Treatment of a
ss
Precocious Young Boy
Edward G. Corrigan and Pearl-Ellen Gordon
s
Mental Interference 83
Christopher Bollas
6 Mystical Precocity and
Psychic Short-Circuits I09
Michael Eigen
7 Cannibalization ofthe Selt:
Chlldren of the Inner City ISS
Ira ]. Schaer and Raymond ]. Vasser
8 No Space for a Baby: Pseudomaturlty
In an Urban Little Girl ISS
Stephen Seligman and Maria St. John
vi CONTENTS
9 Of Two Minds: The Mind's Relation
with Itself 177
Harold N. Boris
10 Bracing for Disappointment and the
Counterphobic Leap Into the FotOPe 209
Peter Shabad and Stanley S. Selinger
11 The Story of the Mind 229
Adam Phillips
Index 241
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many friends and colleagues whose encouragement and
support we wish to acknowledge, but especially the authors who have
taken up this subject and offered their original papers. Christopher
Bollas saw in our work on the "mind object" the possibility of a
book and with his characteristic generosity, humor, and intelligence
he has seen us through this project. Adam Phillips always refers to
this book as "our book," and we share that sentiment with him,
thanking him for his spirited backing. Harold Boris, who joined
this project after many of the papers were written, read and referred
to several of them in his own paper. We want to acknowledge his
special effort; his contribution works as a broad discussion of the
book while remaining a distinctly Harold Boris essay.
In our roles as officers of the Section for Childhood and Adoles
cence, the Division of Psychoanalysis, the American Psychological
Association, and in involvement with scientific programs for the
Society of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, we had
the opportunity of meeting many of the contributors to this vol
ume. Through our participation in the Section for Childhood and
Adolescence we developed the idea of a national study group for
members of the section. In our initial planning, our colleague and
friend Carol Kaye suggested that we study precocious ego develop
ment, a clinically familiar but unexamined phenomenon. We met
as a national study group on a regular basis at the Spring meetings
of Division 39, beginning in Boston in 1989. Christopher Bollas
was a consultant at this first meeting. Although many colleagues
joined us at our national meetings, our core study group was made
up of Peter Shabad and Stanley Selinger in Chicago, Ira Schaer in
Detroit, Stephen Seligman in San Francisco, and Carol Kaye, Ruth
Rosenthal, Richard Eichler, and Donna Bassin along with ourselves
in New York. Eventually, we presented our findings in formal pre
sentations at the Spring Meetings in Chicago in 1991 and Philadel
phia in 1992.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Vlll
We would like to thank our colleagues with whom we have dis
cussed the case of Simon: Anni Bergman, Christopher Bollas, Susan
Coates, Peter Neubauer, Margaret Rustin, Martin Silverman, Sabrina
Wolf, and Larry Zelnick, as well as the members of our monthly
child discussion group, David Beyda, Elsa First, Carol Kaye, and
David Pollens.
Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to Michael Moskowitz
at Jason Aronson and Cesare Sacerdoti at Karnac Books for their
immediate and enthusiastic support.
CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher Bollas is a member of the British Psycho-Analytical
Society and author of The Shadow of the Object, Forces ofD estiny,
Being a Character, Cracking Up and co-author with David Sundel
son of The New Informants.
Harold N. Boris is a member of the psychology faculty in the
Department of Psychiatry of the Harvard Medical School at the
Cambridge Hospital and author of Passions of the Mind, Sleights
of Mind, and Envy.
Nina Coltart was a psychoanalyst for thirty-five years before her
recent retirement. She was a training analyst at the British Psycho
Analytical Society where she was also Chair of the Board and
Council and Vice President. Dr. Coltart was Director of the Lon
don Clinic of Psycho-Analysis for ten years. She is author of
Slouching Towards Bethlehem and How to Survive as a Psycho
therapist and is working on a third book.
Edward Corrigan is supervisor and faculty member at the In
stitute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City and
faculty member at the National Institutes for Psychoanalysis
and former President of the Section for Childhood and Adoles
cence, Division of Psychoanalysis, of the American Psychological
Association.
Michael Eigen is a control and training analyst at the National
Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis and Associate Clini
cal Professor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psy
choanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is author of The Psychotic Core,
Coming Through the Whirlwind, and The Electrified Tightrope.
Pearl-Ellen Gordon is a member of the Executive Committee,
Director of Child and Adolescent Treatment, faculty member,
