Question: how do the cycles of idealization and devaluation work

title: Idealization and devaluation
text: Otto Kernberg has provided an extensive discussion of idealization , both in its defensive and adaptive aspects . He conceptualised idealization as involving a denial of unwanted characteristics of an object , then enhancing the object by projecting one 's own libido or omnipotence on it . He proposed a developmental line with one end of the continuum being a normal form of idealization and the other end a pathological form . In the latter , the individual has a problem with object constancy and sees others as all good or all bad , thus bolstering idealization and devaluation . At this stage idealization is associated with borderline pathology . At the other end of the continuum , idealization is said to be a necessary precursor for feelings of mature love .