Re-pairing and At-onement: Cohering Difference in Loewald’s Concept of Development

Among the theoretical contributions made by Hans Loewald, some of the most meaningful address the developmental process of differentiation from a primary or original unity into "id-ego and objects." This differentiation requires "separation, loss, and restitution," and results in a shift from oneness/unity to at-onement, a connection that bears within it the trace of the separation it emends. A parallel dynamic plays out in the shift from identification to internalization in Loewald's work. The author identifies this dynamic as cohering difference, a structural interaction in both intra- and inter-psychic processes graphically illustrated by the hyphen in Loewald's concept of "at-onement." The author examines these processes and the significance of cohering difference, illustrated by Loewald's idea of "linking," and presents a clinical example in which loss, grief, identification, and internalization play key roles.