title: The empty self and the perils of attachment.
abstract: This article describes clinical work with patients who come to treatment looking for help with chronic experiences of emptiness as well as concomitant fears of relational impingement. We relate these difficulties to distortions in the integration of basic developmental functions, and we suggest a point of view including tangible yet unobtrusive interventions that we have found helpful. We discuss countertransference issues raised by these patients as well as possible etiology.
authors.forename: Sheldon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bach
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grossmark
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kandall
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003379:Countertransference; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010553:Personality Development; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D012649:Self Concept; D013037:Spatial Behavior