Object relations theory: Difference between revisions

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{{Psychoanalysis |Schools}}

'''Object relations theory''' is a school of thought in [[psychoanalytic theory]] and [[psychoanalysis]] centered around theories of stages of ego development. Its concerns include the relation of the [[psyche (psychology)|psyche]] to others in childhood and the exploration of relationships between external people, as well as internal images and the relations found in them.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory |lastlast1=Greenberg |firstfirst1=Jay |last2=Mitchell |first2=Stephen |publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1983 |isbn=0674629752 |___location=Cambridge, MA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/objectrelationsi00gree/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/objectrelationsi00gree/page/12}}</ref> Thinkers of the school maintain that the infant's relationship with the mother primarily determines the formation of its personality in adult life. Particularly, [[Attachment theory|attachment]] is the bedrock of the development of the self or the psychic organization that creates the sense of identity.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Family Therapy: An Overview |lastlast1=Goldenberg |firstfirst1=Herbert |last2=Goldenberg |first2=Irene |publisher=Thomson Higher Education |year=2008 |isbn=9780495097594 |___location=Belmont, CA |pages=160}}</ref>

== Theory ==

While its groundwork derives from theories of development of the ego in [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] [[psychodynamics]], object relations theory does not place emphasis on the role of biological [[Drive theory|drives]] in the formation of personality in adulthood.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society, Updated |lastlast1=Andersen |firstfirst1=Margaret |last2=Taylor |first2=Howard |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |year=2008 |isbn=9780495007425 |___location=Belmont, CA |pages=93}}</ref> Thinkers of the school instead suggest that the way people relate to others and situations in their adult lives is shaped by family experiences during infancy; an adult who experienced neglect or abuse in infancy expects similar behavior from others who, through [[transference]], remind them of the neglectful or abusive parent from their past. These patterns of the behavior of people become repeated images of the events, and eventually turn into ''objects'' in the unconscious that the self carries into adulthood to be used in the unconscious to predict people's behavior in their social relationships and interactions.

The first "object" in an individual is usually an internalized image of the mother. Internal objects are formed by the patterns in one's experience of being taken care of as a baby, which may or may not be accurate representations of the actual, external caretakers. Objects are usually internalized images of one's [[mother]], [[father]], or primary caregiver, although they could also consist of parts of a person such as an infant relating to the [[breast]] or things in one's inner world (one's internalized image of others).<ref>{{cite book

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The positions of Kleinian theory, underlain by unconscious phantasy, are stages in the normal development of ego and object relationships, each with its own characteristic defenses and organizational structure. The paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions occur in the pre-oedipal, oral phase of development.

In contrast to Fairbairn and later Guntrip,<ref>{{cite book|author=Guntrip, H.|date=1975|title=Schizoid phenomena, object relations and the self|___location=Madison, CT|publisher=International Universities Press|ppage=21}}</ref> Klein believed that both good and bad objects are introjected by the infant, the internalization of good objects being essential to the development of healthy ego function.<ref name="Klein 1946" />{{rp|4}} Klein conceptualized the depressive position as "the most mature form of psychological organization", which continues to develop throughout the life span.<ref name="Ogden 1989">{{cite book

| last = Ogden

| first = Thomas H.

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<blockquote>

[As] fears of losing the loved one become active, a very important step is made in the development. These feelings of guilt and distress now enter as a new element into the emotion of love. They become an inherent part of love, and influence it profoundly both in quality and quantity.<ref name="Klein 1964">{{Cite book

|lastlast1= Klein

|firstfirst1= Mélanie

|last2= Riviere

|first2= Joan

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[[Attachment theory]], researched by [[John Bowlby]] and others, has continued to deepen our understanding of early object relationships. While a different strain of psychoanalytic theory and research, the findings in attachment studies have continued to support the validity of the developmental progressions described in object relations. Recent decades in developmental psychological research, for example on the onset of a "[[theory of mind]]" in children, has suggested that the formation of the mental world is enabled by the infant-parent interpersonal interaction which was the main thesis of British object-relations tradition (e.g. Fairbairn, 1952).

While object relations theory grew out of psychoanalysis, it has been applied to the general fields of [[psychiatry]] and [[psychotherapy]] by such authors as [[N. Gregory Hamilton]]<ref name=ORT>{{cite journal|last=Hamilton|first=N. Gregory|date=1989|title=A critical review of object relations theory|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=146|issue=12|pppages=1552–1560|doi=10.1176/AJP.146.12.1552|s2cid=22792463}}</ref><ref name=Pharmacotherapy>{{Cite journal

| last1 = Hamilton | first1 = N. G.

| last2 = Sacks | first2 = L. H.