Interpretation as Carrier of Selfobject Functions: Catalyzing Inborn Potential

This paper highlights the importance of verbally articulated interpretations as uniquely important because inherent in interpretations are selfobject functions. In other words, interpretations are the carriers of selfobject functions, the internalization of which are needed to concurrently strengthen one's sense of self and to modify defensive structures. When an interpretation or genetic reconstruction that carries selfobject functions is experienced as accurate, it can be almost instantly structured building for a patient as long as the patient and therapist share a sense of connectedness and permeable boundaries. The paper discusses three verbatim interactions with three different patients that illustrates how interpretations catalyze inborn potentials to become sustained abiding psychological capacities. I then discuss a verbatim interaction with a fourth patient to suggest how we might work with a patient who is not as yet open to interpretative work.