Jointness (psychodynamics)
Encyclopedia
Jointness is a term in psychoanalysis
and psychodynamic theory, describing a new look at normal object relation that takes place from the beginning of life. Till nowadays symbiosis
(propounded by Margaret Mahler
1968, 1975) is the common term for a normal object relation, while Ronnie Solan emphasizes that symbiosis represents impairment
in object relation.
Jointness is defined as a dynamic process representing an emotional system for attachment
and for communication
between separate individuals who jointly approach each other in a third, joint, virtual space. Jointness represents an encounter between mother and infant
, psychotherapist
and patient, or any partners experiencing simultaneously mutual intimacy, while concomitantly safeguarding separateness.
The newborn, very early in life, perceives the other
, even his mother, as a "not-I" (it indicates a psychic process to safeguard one's own self), and is attached to the "not-I mother" by an intimate acquaintance with her through his/her senses. When both, mother and baby, devote themselves to intimacy, that temporarily blurs the boundaries between them, separateness can be safeguarded. As a result, baby might gradually develop his/her own boundaries and acknowledge those of his or her object and might invest their own innate abilities to participate in human interactions and enjoy relationships ("motivational systems," Emde, 1988).
The development of this basic process of jointness between baby and mother depends on mother's capacity to tolerate separateness. It is the mother who imprints the quality and the intensity of the rapprochement-separation balancing process in their relationship, while both of them are fully invested in each other.
The unique jointness and the unique communication, in a unique psychic virtual space are created by the sharing of interests (emotional or cognitive), and by the mutual investment of partners in a joint phenomenon, object, or idea, meaningful to both. All vital human communication represents both the separateness of the two (or more) individuals and their joining in a third virtual space. Thus, "jointness" elicits the triadic (triangulation) object relations (mother's space - "virtual transitional space" - baby's space).
In this type of transitional space baby and mother, lovers, or partners of a common task, are jointly determine the extent of rapprochement
between themselves, the extent of safeguarding separateness and also the moment to separate. Each of them is sensorily attentive to the strangeness and the separateness of the “non-I” that the other represents for him. Such a dynamic
process of Jointness, represents healthy development
from birth, paves the way to a sense of individuation and culminates to establish the valuable communication with others relating to their otherness, while preserving separateness and self integrity.
It is important to distinguish between jointness and symbiosis. Both may commence with the beginning of life; they may seem similar, and yet they are widely different experiences. In symbiosis, baby and mother behave and function as though they were "an omnipotent system - a dual unity within one common boundary" (Margaret Mahler, 1968, p. 201). Partners of symbiosis can be fully satisfied as long as there is no hint of separateness. Jointness, on the other hand, represents both the separateness of the two (or more) individuals and their joining in a third virtual space.
The development of this basic process (between baby and mother) in symbiosis depends on mother's inability to endure separateness while both of them are fully invested in each other. It is the mother who imprints on their encounter her need to contain herself with her baby in one unit and to prevent the encouragement of separateness in favor of the boundaries of their unity. Both partners will be motivated, through life, by a powerful need for merging and they will remain almost addicted to finding another object to merge with and attach their symbiotic needs, even at the expense of sacrificing their individuation, their true-self and their self-esteem. Such an encounter fosters only a dyadic relation where the "transitional virtual space" between them is missing.
Hence, symbiosis is a dyadic pathological process, even from the beginning of life that results in self fragility, narcissistic disturbances and in an immature personality; while Jointness represents a triadic healthy development that depends on healthy narcissism
and generates separation-individuation, communication and relationship.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
and psychodynamic theory, describing a new look at normal object relation that takes place from the beginning of life. Till nowadays symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
(propounded by Margaret Mahler
Margaret Mahler
Margaret Schönberger Mahler was a Hungarian physician, who later became interested in psychiatry. She was a central figure on the world stage of psychoanalysis...
1968, 1975) is the common term for a normal object relation, while Ronnie Solan emphasizes that symbiosis represents impairment
Impairment
Impairment may refer to:* A medical condition that leads to disability* In accounting, a downward revaluation of fixed assets* In health, any loss or abnormality of physiological, psychological, or anatomical structure or function, whether permanent or temporary...
in object relation.
Jointness is defined as a dynamic process representing an emotional system for attachment
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...
and for communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
between separate individuals who jointly approach each other in a third, joint, virtual space. Jointness represents an encounter between mother and infant
Infant
A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...
, psychotherapist
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and patient, or any partners experiencing simultaneously mutual intimacy, while concomitantly safeguarding separateness.
The newborn, very early in life, perceives the other
Other
The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
, even his mother, as a "not-I" (it indicates a psychic process to safeguard one's own self), and is attached to the "not-I mother" by an intimate acquaintance with her through his/her senses. When both, mother and baby, devote themselves to intimacy, that temporarily blurs the boundaries between them, separateness can be safeguarded. As a result, baby might gradually develop his/her own boundaries and acknowledge those of his or her object and might invest their own innate abilities to participate in human interactions and enjoy relationships ("motivational systems," Emde, 1988).
The development of this basic process of jointness between baby and mother depends on mother's capacity to tolerate separateness. It is the mother who imprints the quality and the intensity of the rapprochement-separation balancing process in their relationship, while both of them are fully invested in each other.
The unique jointness and the unique communication, in a unique psychic virtual space are created by the sharing of interests (emotional or cognitive), and by the mutual investment of partners in a joint phenomenon, object, or idea, meaningful to both. All vital human communication represents both the separateness of the two (or more) individuals and their joining in a third virtual space. Thus, "jointness" elicits the triadic (triangulation) object relations (mother's space - "virtual transitional space" - baby's space).
In this type of transitional space baby and mother, lovers, or partners of a common task, are jointly determine the extent of rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
between themselves, the extent of safeguarding separateness and also the moment to separate. Each of them is sensorily attentive to the strangeness and the separateness of the “non-I” that the other represents for him. Such a dynamic
Psychodynamics
Psychodynamics is the theory and systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, especially the dynamic relations between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation...
process of Jointness, represents healthy development
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
from birth, paves the way to a sense of individuation and culminates to establish the valuable communication with others relating to their otherness, while preserving separateness and self integrity.
It is important to distinguish between jointness and symbiosis. Both may commence with the beginning of life; they may seem similar, and yet they are widely different experiences. In symbiosis, baby and mother behave and function as though they were "an omnipotent system - a dual unity within one common boundary" (Margaret Mahler, 1968, p. 201). Partners of symbiosis can be fully satisfied as long as there is no hint of separateness. Jointness, on the other hand, represents both the separateness of the two (or more) individuals and their joining in a third virtual space.
The development of this basic process (between baby and mother) in symbiosis depends on mother's inability to endure separateness while both of them are fully invested in each other. It is the mother who imprints on their encounter her need to contain herself with her baby in one unit and to prevent the encouragement of separateness in favor of the boundaries of their unity. Both partners will be motivated, through life, by a powerful need for merging and they will remain almost addicted to finding another object to merge with and attach their symbiotic needs, even at the expense of sacrificing their individuation, their true-self and their self-esteem. Such an encounter fosters only a dyadic relation where the "transitional virtual space" between them is missing.
Hence, symbiosis is a dyadic pathological process, even from the beginning of life that results in self fragility, narcissistic disturbances and in an immature personality; while Jointness represents a triadic healthy development that depends on healthy narcissism
Healthy narcissism
'Some psychoanalysts and writers make a distinction between "healthy narcissism" and "unhealthy narcissism"...the healthy narcissist being someone who has a real sense of self-esteem that can enable them to leave their imprint on the world, but who can also share in the emotional life of...
and generates separation-individuation, communication and relationship.
Papers and Articles
http://www.pep-web.org/- Solan, Ronnie (1998) Narcissistic Fragility in the Process of Befriending the Unfamiliar. Psychoanal. Amer. J. Psycho-Anal., Vol. 58:(2)163-186. http://www.springerlink.com
- Solan, Ronnie (1998b). The Narcissitic Vulnerability to Change in Object Relation. In Psychoan. In Israel (Theoriebildung und therapeutische Praxis). BlatteR Band 9. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen.
- Solan, Ronnie (1999). The Interaction Between Self and Other: A Different Perspective on Narcissism. Psychoanal. Study of the Child, 54: 193-215.
- Solan, Ronnie (2007). Enigma of Childhood (in Hebrew). Modan Publishing House.
See also
- Child developmentChild developmentChild development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
- Interpersonal relationshipInterpersonal relationshipAn interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
- NarcissismNarcissismNarcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
- Healthy narcissismHealthy narcissism'Some psychoanalysts and writers make a distinction between "healthy narcissism" and "unhealthy narcissism"...the healthy narcissist being someone who has a real sense of self-esteem that can enable them to leave their imprint on the world, but who can also share in the emotional life of...
- Object relations theoryObject relations theoryObject relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
- RapprochementRapprochementIn international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
- Transference focused psychotherapyTransference focused psychotherapyTransference Focused Psychotherapy , is a highly structured, twice-weekly modified psychodynamic treatment based on Otto Kernberg’s object relations model of borderline personality disorder...