Golden fantasy
Golden fantasy is a secret (or not-so-secret) expectation that all of one's problems can be solved by interaction with a perfect and all-caring relationship figure. The fantasy can be found both in psychotherapy and in ordinary life.
Structure[edit]
The golden fantasy was first named as such by Sidney Smith in 1977.[1] Arguably however, the concept had been anticipated by Karen Horney[2] and by Charles Brenner;[3] and it was rooted in earlier psychoanalytic understanding of passive-receptive mastery.[4]
Such a fantasy may resonate to unfortunate effect with the therapist's own "rescuer" fantasies; and has to be gradually given up and mourned if progress in therapy is to be made.[5] In the form of compulsive acting out of the fantasy in real life, it can constitute a formidable obstacle to analysis of the transference.[6]
Later writers have placed more emphasis on the adaptive nature of the fantasy in ego-maintenance – its role in fending off a primitive sense of angst[7] – and on the necessity of its sensitive handling, to strengthen the therapeutic alliance.[8]
Residential care workers see the fantasy emerging in split form, with carers first seen as fulfilling it in entirety, in opposition to the bad parents; and then the parents being seen as the answer to the golden fantasy, with the care home becoming all bad.[9]
Cultural examples[edit]
- Sylvia Plath has been seen as seeking an idealised fantasy partner, able to give her a missing sense of fullness, completeness and perfection.[10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Glen O. Gabbard, Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (2010) p. 143
- ↑ I. Solomon, Karen Horney and Character Disorder (2005) p. 98
- ↑ L. M. Vaillant, Changing Character (1997) p. 136
- ↑ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 561
- ↑ Glen O. Gabbard, Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (2010) p. 160 and p. 171-2
- ↑ I. Solomon, Karen Horney and Character Disorder (2005) p. 98
- ↑ S. Teitelbaum, Illusion and Disillusion (2007) p. 113
- ↑ Adaptive nature
- ↑ D. P. Zimmerman, Psychotherapy in Group Care (2013) p. 67
- ↑ E. Bronfen, Sylvia Plath (1998) p. 38
Further reading[edit]
Sidney Smith (1977), "The golden fantasy: a regressive reaction to separation anxiety", International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 58, 311–324
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