Symbiosis and intimacy

Abstract

The symbiotic phase of development is crucially involved in determing the nature of psychopathology as well as promoting psychic processes that are involved in creative activity and intimate object relationships. In a well-established object relationship, the partners relate to each other in a symbiotic fashion. From the analysis of married persons (and some clinical material is presented in this paper), the author concludes that the fundamental character structure, psychopathological or otherwise, of each spouse is identical. Exceptions to this conclusion exist, but here one is dealing with an object relationship that is superficial and transitory. Symbiotic fusion regularly occurs in creative activity and empathic intimate relationships.