THE LOVING SELF: A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONCEPT.

The loving self arises early from parental love, but it becomes inhibited in the course of childhood development. Analytic psychotherapy is a mutually loving process, through which the loving self achieves liberation. The loving self is the ideal self state for our postmodern era. Progenitors of the concept are cited and their contributions to psychoanalytic thought are explored. Clinical examples show the process of self-actualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]