The personality “as if”: the creation of the self in the face of emptiness

The concept of the “as if” personality has been used variously in analytic literature, without ever having been the subject of a clinically-based theory. Herein, the author presents the basics of the concept she elaborated from observations she made as both analyst and supervisor. She identifies a set of symptoms including a number of elements indicating that the “as if” personality is a special type of self-defense mechanism in patients with an exceptional capacity for engaging creatively with the world, beyond the expectations one might have based on their personal history. This clinical picture includes physical collapse and illness caused by psychic suffering associated with early childhood trauma, which has become part of the bodily memory rather than that of the psyche. When the absence of the object is internalized, the core of the personality is indelibly imprinted with a feeling of emptiness. As long as the energy resources of the self are not exhausted, it is capable of acts of self-creation, drawing upon identifications and internalized positive substitution experiences. The author’s theory is based on the presentation of a “composite” patient. She emphasizes the key role played by countertransference and the intense pressure placed upon the analyst in work with this type of patient.