Merger Fantasies in Psychotherapy

Bipolar and borderline clients who feel hopeless about their capacity for meaningful change often idealize their therapists and unconsciously try to merge with them; this fantasy of merger represents an escape from the damaged self into an alternative ideal self embodied by the therapist, a sort of personal growth by annexation.

Psychotherapy Issues Arising from Bipolar Disorder Symptoms

In bipolar disorder, there’s an underlying fear that the internal damage is so pervasive it’s hopeless to do anything realistic to repair or improve it, leading to a search for magical solutions instead. This article illustrates these dynamics with a case study and discusses psychotherapy for those who suffer from bipolar disorder.