Polarities of Experiences: Relatedness and Self-Definition in Personality Development, Psychopathology and the Therapeutic Process

by Sidney J. Blatt, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and psychology (American Psychological Association) The author proposes that psychological development is a lifelong personal negotiation between two dimensions: relatedness, which he terms the anaclitic dimension; and self-definition, or the introjective dimension. He contends that emphasis on one developmental line at the expense of the other, however, can lead to a variety of mental disorders. Within this framework, Blatt sees mental disorders as compensatory exaggerations of the normal polarities of relatedness and self-definition rather than clusters of present or absent symptoms. Blatt discusses research indicating that anaclitic and introjective persons respond differently to psychotherapy. He then argues that this conceptualization of personality development has clear implications for refining approaches to therapy.