This paper describes a twisty intersubjective journey between an analyst and a patient who is beset by a lifelong fear that she is actually a robot, not a human being. Alienated from the human world, she has sustained her sense of self by creating emotional ties to fantasy selfobjects. The patient is saved by these ties, and undone by them too. On the one hand, these connections represent a striving for health and stability. On the other, they shield her from what she most longs for – the warmth of a human heart. Interactions between her and her analyst reveal the grip of a powerful unconscious organizing principle: She must cleanse herself of all feeling and serve the master. Claiming her place as a human among humans rests on her liberation from this horrifying belief.
Two Continuing Education Credits for NYS social workers, psychoanalysts, psychologists, and LMHCs.
Laura D'Angelo
Laura D’Angelo, MDiv. LP, is a psychoanalyst in New York City who works with individuals, couples and groups. She is a faculty member and supervisor at the Training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology (TRISP), National Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP), and the Harlem Family Institute (HFI). She is a writer with credits in national magazines, newspapers as well as academic journals. She is a contributing author to Intersubjective Self Psychology: A Primer that was published by Routledge in 2019
Estelle Shane
Estelle Shane, PhD, is Training/Supervising analyst and faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis and Founding Member, Board Member, Training/supervising Analyst and faculty at the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She is a Founder and Board Member of International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP), and Adviser for International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP). She is on the Editorial Boards of Psychoanalytic Inquiry and Psychoanalysis Self and Context. She has published numerous articles and has co- authored one book.
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