Understanding the Longing for Merger - A Heuristic Self-Search Inquiry

Simple item page
aut.embargoNoen_NZ
aut.filerelease.date2025-02-16
aut.thirdpc.containsNoen_NZ
dc.contributor.advisorThomas-Anttila, Kerry
dc.contributor.authorRichter, Steffi
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-16T01:49:08Z
dc.date.available2022-02-16T01:49:08Z
dc.date.copyright2022
dc.date.issued2022
dc.date.updated2022-02-16T01:10:35Z
dc.description.abstractIn this dissertation, I address a question that I had been trying to answer for a long time: What is my understanding of the longing for merger? I chose Moustakas’ (1990) heuristic research methodology and methods to understand the purpose and origin of my experience of pervasive merger longings. I also searched the literature to find psychoanalytic understanding of the meaning of these longings. I found that merger and merger longings were traditionally addressed in Margaret Mahler’s widely accepted psychoanalytic concept of normal symbiosis, a hypothesised phase in normal child development that she describes in her Separation-Individuation Theory (Mahler et al., 1975). During this early phase, she suggested, the infant is unable to differentiate between self and other and thus experiences a state of oneness with mother that all human beings will later long to return to. However, empirical infant observation research refuted the symbiosis concept, leaving a void in the understanding of merger longings. Daniel Stern (1985) then offered a new child development theory, the Four Senses of Self. It did, however, not include a new hypothesis for merger longings. Later, Rucker and Lombardi (1990) hypothesised that the longing for merger is a defence against narcissistic wounding. Their assumption was, however, hardly acknowledged in the psychoanalytic literature, and the lack of understanding merger longings remained. In my heuristic self-study, I found myself emotionally strongly resonating with Mahler’s symbiosis concept while cognitively trusting the opposing findings of empirical infant observation. In slowly resolving this inner split, I accepted the untenability of the normal symbiotic phase and realised instead that symbiosis is a fantasy image that represents the totality of what I am longing for. I further found the understanding that my merger longings developed in a growing-up environment where love and warmth were available but empathy for painful emotional states was not. As a result, I avoided expressing such emotions and instead sought soothing in closeness. As closeness cannot sufficiently compensate for empathy, my longings intensified into the desire for utmost closeness, i.e. merger. I recognised that my experience paralleled Rucker and Lombardi’s (1990) hypothesis of merger longings. Yet the “mechanics” of the defence they describe differs from mine. Based on their hypothesis and my personal experience, I conclude by offering an integrated model of the defensive operation of merger longings.en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/14909
dc.language.isoenen_NZ
dc.publisherAuckland University of Technology
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.subjectLongingen_NZ
dc.subjectSymbiosisen_NZ
dc.subjectMahleren_NZ
dc.subjectSternen_NZ
dc.subjectMergeren_NZ
dc.subjectFantasyen_NZ
dc.subjectDefenceen_NZ
dc.titleUnderstanding the Longing for Merger - A Heuristic Self-Search Inquiryen_NZ
dc.typeDissertationen_NZ
thesis.degree.grantorAuckland University of Technology
thesis.degree.levelMasters Dissertations
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Psychotherapyen_NZ
Files
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
895 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters Dissertations