Affect integration in psychoanalysis: a clinical approach to self-destructive behavior.

Self-destructive behavior can be an attempt to reverse self-fragmentation or breakdown secondary to feeling overwhelmed by unbearable affect. Therapeutic attention to blocks in the development of affect integration may help individuals process painful feeling states more efficiently, thus dealing with tension states more constructively. The author describes two cases that illustrate therapeutic removal of such blocks, followed by cessation of the self-destructive behavior and resumption of the normal developmental process.