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ABSTRACT
Hope is understood as being derived from a sense of well-being or a good-object feeling. From object relational and self-psychology perspectives, the author examines variations of hope, from hopelessness through idealized and malignant idealized hope to mature hope. Looking at idealized hope from both progressive and regressive positions, the author studies a case that has a dominant feature of regressive or malignant idealized hope. How group therapy plays a transformational role in addressing the issue of malignant idealized hope and in establishing a healthy sense of hope is developed.
Stephen Mitchell (1993) writes that there are two fundamentally different understandings of hope in psychoanalytic thinking: hope as a regressive experience interfering with mature relationships and functioning, and hope as a progressive experience that enriches life. Regarding the former, Boris (1976), who was influenced by Klein and Bion and who was one of my first group supervisors, has elaborated on how hope can corrupt and destroy any opportunities of forming satisfying, meaningful love and work relationships. Winnicott (1956/1975,1965), Kohut (1977), and Friedman (1988), in contrast, approach hope as a necessary illusion that vitalizes self-experience, providing the motivation to persist in the face of despair. Harwood (1983), Kossef (1975), and Livingston (2001), have applied this latter conceptualization of hope as a progressive phenomenon to the context of group psychotherapy. As Mitchell points out, both progressive and regressive forms may emerge during the course of treatment and both understandings of hope provide useful ways for patients and therapists "to think about and live through difficult, uncomfortable clinical situations." (1993, p.222).
This article focuses on a particular kind of hope-what I term idealized hope. The progressive and regressive forms are particularly profound in this experience. In its progressive form, idealized hope can produce the motivation to aspire and persevere in the face of challenges, disappointments, and adversity. As a regressive form, malignant idealized hope, as I call it, can produce destructive engagements, self-hate, and a paralyzing sense of hopelessness. I present a case in which this malignant idealized hope had a crippling effect on a patient's life and examine how individual and group therapy were employed to work on its destructive features. The case illustrates how the unique qualities of group therapy-providing an array of relational experiences...