Impediments to intimacy

Research results indicate that intimate contact can profoundly affect health and well-being. The capacity for intimacy, however, differs from person to person. Given its origin in the symbiotic phase of development and its being influenced by the separation-individuation process, the capacity for intimacy is subject to disruption by fear of object loss and fear of merger. In this article, I examine these and other fears as impediments to intimacy. Because of the affective engagement between patient and analyst, these impediments can best be studied, understood, and treated within the psychoanalytic relationship.