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Saboteur and superego: The judgement of the ego in brief dynamic therapy

Drawing principally upon the work of Woodmansey the author describes the development of the punitive or humiliating superego as arising from the internalisation of an external conflict, which the child experiences with adult carers, and from whom the child fears retaliatory punishment or scornful reproach. The superego serves the function of extricating the child from the external conflict. Woodmansey’s view of the natural instincts and the development of a moral sense are compared to those of Winnicott, Fairbairn and Guntrip. The notion of a pristine unitary ego and the development of an internal saboteur arising from the frustration of needs for relatedness are outlined and linked conceptually to the development of the punitive superego. The role and judgement of the ego and its emancipation from the superego in accordance with Britton’s formulation are highlighted and related to clinical practice and the alternating transference. These clinical themes are discussed in relation to eliciting affects and narrative construction and deconstruction in brief dynamic work and illustrated by a case example.