The Process of Constructing the Self and Its Relation to Psychotherapy

The dynamic maturational approach to attachment theory is first applied to the parent-child relationship, which is then compared to the therapist-client relationship through consideration of six components of self: emergent processes, function, maturation, reciprocity with non-self, multiplicity of potential selves, and integration. Emergent process The self is usually spoken of as if it were some sort of ‘thing.’ The self is more usefully seen as an organizational process that is on-going and continuous across the life-span (Guidano, 1995b; Mead, 1934). Thus, there is never a completely finished, stable, or even “true” self. Put another way, the self is always becoming. This is equally true for developing children and the developing adults with whom they interact. It is also true for psychotherapists. If we apply the ideas of the Russian psychologist Vygotsky to the attachment relationship between parents and children, we could say that the parent, as an attachment figure, works most appropriately in the child’s zone of proximal development (ZPD; Vygotsky, 1987). In that zone, the attachment figure organizes his or her behavior to promote the protection of the child. This means letting children do what they can do for themselves and doing for them what they cannot do at all.