LAUSR

ABSTRACT This paper describes a therapeutic process between myself and Ben who, through his drawings and our co-creation of their meaning, came to articulate and transform deeply hidden and shameful aspects of himself. I look at the material through the lenses of The Psychology of Being Human, Kohut’s early thoughts about “various selves fighting for ascendancy” and Togashi’s idea of an “intersubjective taboo”. The paper illustrates how the complex interplay between these concepts organizes an alter-ego experience. In so doing, the paper elaborates both Kohut’s embryonic and little-developed idea of an alter-ego, and the framework of The Psychology of Being Human