Concept
Dimensionality of mental functioning
Meltzer's scheme, set out in Explorations in Autism (1975), for grading states of mind by the kind of space and time in which they relate to objects. One-dimensional functioning is a mindless line of movement towards or away from objects, as in autism proper; in two-dimensional functioning objects and self are felt as surfaces without insides, so that experience cannot be contained and identification can only be adhesive; three-dimensional functioning knows objects with interior spaces into which one can project and from which one can take in; and four-dimensional functioning adds time, development and the acceptance of separateness.
- Introduced by
- Donald Meltzer
- Key works
- 1
- Related
- Adhesive identification
introduced by
- Donald Meltzer 1975 Meltzer's model ranks mental life by the dimensions of its objects and self: one-dimensional (autistic), two-dimensional (surfaces without inner space), three-dimensional (containers that projective identification can enter), and four-dimensional (time and development).
gave rise to
- Adhesive identification In Meltzer's scheme, adhesive identification is the typical way of relating in two-dimensional mental functioning, where objects are felt as surfaces only.