IJSP Number 7, 2025

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 7, 2025 Page | 58 show window constantly translates in a window show for a continuous exposure. Ultimately, that is what we usually search in the eyes of others, eyes that should reflect and possibly enhance our own image. Some people are willing even to pay the psychotherapist to listen to his complains and to reflect back on them some kind of understanding … What should a supervisor say to a therapist who complains about that? How can they understand or integrate such endless flow of self-importance? Can, in other words, the persona be healed? Or, can a pseudo-self be solidified in order to become some kind of solid self ? Those are just a few questions that come in mind as we analyse what is happening to our fellow citizens. The solid self There is a significant difference between the pseudo-self previously analysed and the solid self , considered by Bowen and his followers as the more consistent and stable nucleus of personality. As such, this part of the self is a more consistent self , one that is stable, intimate and built on a strong, durable and permanent basis. The solid self is immutable and, as such, not negotiable as the pseudo-self is; it is not variable and adaptable to any influences or temptations coming from the social world. As Bowen underlines it: “The solid self does not participate in the fusion phenomenon.” [11]. To understand what Bowen wants to say, we need to see how this fusion manifest itself in the family system. The entire theory of the differentiation of self builds upon a basic assumption, which is that families, as the main unit for our ontogenetic development, work according to some systemic laws governed by homeostasis, circularity, totality, and so on. Usually, the family system develops and finds itself embedded in a very complex process of emotional fusion transmitted to its members, especially to children; the opposite, namely the fissional forces, on which individuality is differentiated and built, occur later in life and manifest massively in puberty and adolescence. Although the first signs of the Ego , appear at the age of two (at least according to Freud although other researchers, including psychoanalysts, may have different opinions), these first signs will show their full development much latter. Until that time, the child lives in the midst of a process of intense fusion with his mother and other parental figures, which is centripetal given the character and orientation of the psychic energy and investment. As such, the newborn will rapidly adopt attitudes and behaviours in order to obtain what he needs for his survival, well-being, and comfort. It seems that the pseudo-self or the persona has a certain precedence over the development of the Ego or the solid self . The more personal and more egotistical components of our psyche are latter arrivals and they obviously need a certain foundation or basis in order to start evolving and developing. It is first fusion and only afterwards fission and splitting of a tiny psychic fragment, that later on becomes the solid self . In spite of that, Michael Kerr observed that there has to be some kind of equilibrium between the two forces of attraction and repulsion: “... human beings have a profound need for emotional closeness but are adverse to too much of it. The phenomenon is a fundamental aspect of human nature and exists in people of all cultures.” [16] In the end, it is about togetherness and individuality and one has to have some ‘space’ in the realm of togetherness for individuality to form and to develop. Nevertheless, right in this process, individuality cannot ignore togetherness for which it has to reserve