Consider the case history described in the Appendix. The patient suffers from a severe inner confl ict between moving toward people and moving away from people, with the latter having been chosen as...

Consider the case history described in the Appendix. The patient suffers from a severe inner confl ict between moving toward people and moving away from people, with the latter having been chosen as the neurotic solution. (He is able to describe his confl ict because he has made progress in bringing it to consciousness through psychotherapy; otherwise it would be too deeply repressed.) The idealized image sets unattainable standards, such as never needing other people, which are diametrically opposed to (and thus in confl ict with) his needs for love and affection. When he does occasionally try to relate to other people, his efforts are awkward and unsuccessful because he is unpracticed in social skills. These failures are threatening reminders that the idealized image is a fi ction, and that the real self is all too capable of error. So the failures (and the real self and wishes) are concealed by emphasizing the idealized image even more, which leads to more unrealistic and unattainable standards, which lead to more failure, and so on.