On internal object relations

This paper gives an account of the author's attempts to come to terms with the concept of internal object relations, and to find an appropriate theoretical place for it within non-Kleinian mainstream theory. It is proposed that the internal object be regarded as a structure in the nonexperimental realm, being built up during development on the basis of the child's subjective perceptual and fantasy experiences. The internal objects in turn influence perception, thought, fantasy, current object relations, and transference. From the point of view of the clinician, the concepts of internal object and of internal object relation act as useful organizing constructs for both analyst and patient. Finally, the suggestion is made that internal objects can be regarded as the source of internal "presences" with which the person constantly unconsciously interacts.     

Conceptual structures, representation of objects and object relations]

This article provides an overview of psychological studies of object concepts, highlighting the more recent re-conceptualizations, and the latest developments in research in this field. These developments have tended to focus on the notion of context, as well as on the notion of causal relations between features. Our theoretical analysis of this field is backed up by experimental illustrations. We complete with an examination of "category-specific impairments" studies, in the light of the evolution of concept theories.     

Intersubjectivity,object relations theory,and empirical evidence from mother-infant interactions

The work of John Bowlby and his associates on the development of the infant's attachment to his or her parents in the second half of the first year reflects the fruitfulness of an integration of psychoanalytic insights and empirical research. In line with this approach, this paper considers the mother-infant relationship in the first few months from two perspectives: that of the British School of Object Relations and that of the theory of Intersubjectivity, set out initially within developmental psychology and, more recently, developed within systems theory. These views are considered in the light of evidence from two sources. First, a series of experimental studies is described employing disruptions to both the form and the timing of communication between 6- to 12-week-old infants and their mothers. This work illustrates the sensitivity of young infants to the quality of their interpersonal engagements and, also, the contribution of the infant to the regulation of interactions with others. Second, evidence is presented from a prospective study of the effects of maternal depression in the postnatal period on infant development. This work shows the possible longer term consequences for the infant of early disturbances in the mother-infant relationship. Infants of postnatally depressed women were found to be more insecurely attached to their mothers, were more likely to have mild behavioral problems (especially sleep disturbance), and showed poorer outcome on Object Concept tasks at 18 months. These effects occurred despite the fact that the mother had recovered from depression by 3 months postpartum.     

Structural conflict and object relations conflict.

A hierarchical model of the mind is required for a more integrated understanding of psychic conflict. At a higher developmental level, the hierarchical model includes the tripartite model, and at a lower level it includes an object-relations model. Psychic conflicts may be classified into object relations conflicts and structural conflicts. The object-relations class of psychic conflict covers the phase of psychic development prior to id-ego-superego differentiation. The earlier psychoanalytic writings tended to ascribe all kinds of symptoms, conflicts, and disorders to structural conflicts. Logical and empirical evidence against the universality of structural conflicts in various disorders and symptoms, even psychoneurotic symptoms, has been summarized and discussed.     

Empirical and clinical assessments of children's object relations and object representations.

A series of investigations that assess children's object representations using the Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) Scale are reviewed. The scale is viewed as a summary measure of a child's repertoire of previous interpersonal interactions. It has been effective in delineating qualitative aspects of a number of child psychopathological syndromes, in documenting short-term object representational shifts in children undergoing surgery, and in foretelling key paradigms in child psychotherapy. This effectiveness provides empirical support for the hypothesized salience of object representations as an integral facet of personality and affirms Escalona's (1968) contention that capturing a child's phenomenological experience enhances our capacity to predict later outcome.     

Renewal of object relations through dream-work

In this paper I describe my work with a suicidal patient. The patient was a woman who failed to realize her creative potential in a much wished for and unattainable profession of teacher and transferred all her energy and desire for leadership into her family life. The slogan of her life was the pathetic phrase: 'Everything or nothing!' Her views on life differed from those of her husband who, at the age of 48, started a love affair with a 25-year-old woman. In relation to this, the patient became depressed and attempted suicide twice (by poisoning) in two years. From the Toxicology Department she was referred to the Psychiatric Department where she was treated as an out-patient.     

On a type of heterosexuality, and the fluidity of object relations

This paper delineates a form of heterosexuality whose underlying psychological structure resembles that of perversions. It is characterized by: idealization of instinctual processes, whereby the ego subordinates the object to the actualization of the instinctual event itself; heightened narcissism in an otherwise neurotic ego organization; multiple intrapsychic uses of the object; a special kind of defensive organization; an experienced victory over the superego and associated elevation of certain aspects of the ego ideal; and a resultant alteration in the nature of close interpersonal relationships. I use clinical vignettes from both male and female patients in psychoanalysis to focus on the phenomena in question. The thinking of Chassequet-Smirgel, Freud, Khan, Rangell, Socarides, and others is used in an attempt to gain an encompassing perspective. It is emphasized that patients demonstrating this form of heterosexuality do not possess a perversion per se, but demonstrate a character neurosis which integrates certain perverse mechanisms into its defensive organization. These mechanisms can be isolated and studied in psychoanalytic treatment, with the potential for illuminating their defensive and mood-regulating functions, and eventual working through and resolution of the intrapsychic conflicts underlying them. Some comments on the implications of this form of sexuality for our contemporary culture are included.     

Familial dyadic patterns in defenses and object relations

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory was administered to 308 sets of marital couples, and adult sons or daughters. The inventory yields five defensive clusters as well as a composite object relations measure. Correlational analyses were aimed at determining the extent to which defensive and object relations styles generalize within the family. Results showed consistent similarities across the family in object relations styles and in acting out defenses. Dyadic analyses showed striking similarities between Husband-Wife, Father-Son, and Mother-Daughter, but not for Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dyads. Results are discussed in context of modeling, sex role, and systems theory.Data from this study were presented at the American Psychological Association annual convention, August, 1991, in San Francisco, CA.     

Bulimia and object relations: MMPI and Rorschach variables

Rorschach and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) responses from persons vomiting to manage body weight and fat phobia were compared to those from a matched control group to determine the levels of personality structure. These responses were also contrasted with those of representative groups from normal and personality disordered populations. Findings were that the bulimic group's test protocols differed significantly from those of the control group, displaying evidence of serious cognitive slippage and dramatic, emotional and erratic personality structures arrested at the differentiation subphase of ego development. The clinical importance of timely developmental diagnosis and interventions designed to promote object constancy was discussed in light of these findings.     

The limitations of the object relations model

The position expressed in this paper is that there is no drive without object, and no object relationship except in the context of the drives. If primacy is to be attributed to any of the factors involved in mental functioning, it should be to the workings of the pleasure-unpleasure principle; the latter cannot be conceived as independent of the realm of the drives. A clinical case is presented in order to demonstrate why and to what extent it can be severely restrictive to attribute ultimate motivating primacy to a hypothetical object-seeking tendency conceived of as operating outside the sphere of the drives.     

Introduction to object relations group psychotherapy.

The author shows how object relations group therapy focuses on primitive defense mechanisms that shape the group-entity image or "basic assumptions group." Such primitive defense mechanisms as splitting, projective identification, omnipotent denial, projection, and introjection are the mental resources to protect the endangered self and the threatened objects from the fantasized imminent destruction. Object relations group psychotherapy addresses those defenses and the underlying psychotic anxieties, offering members opportunities to search for other ways to respond to their primitive fears. The author introduces two extensive clinical vignettes to illustrate how object relations group methods are different from other group-centered psychoanalytic techniques. He concludes by commenting on future theoretical refinements and on the problems in the professional practice of this modality.     

Suttie's influence on Fairbairn's object relations theory

It is suggested here that Ian Suttie influenced W. R. D. Fairbairn directly through a 1939 reprint of his The Origins of Love and Hate, a heavily underlined copy of which was found by the author in Fairbairn's library in the University of Edinburgh Library Special Collections in October 2009. Underlined sections of the book are compared with significant aspects of Fairbairn's post-1940 theorizing, and the similarities are argued to be due to Fairbairn's adopting many of the underlying attitudes and ideas that Suttie developed. This leaves Fairbairn's structural theory, which he began to develop as a rational reconstruction of Freud's structural theory as early as 1927, dependent in part on such theory but independent of direct influence by Suttie. It is argued that Suttie's importance vis-à-vis British object relations thinking needs to be reassessed.     

The clinical popularity of object relations concepts

Object relations theory has the effect of supporting the psychoanalyst when he feels that the patient's effort is strongly opposed to his own. The current popularity of object relations theory may be related to the gradual disappearance from Freudian theory of a simple, clear image of an obligatory insistence by the patient that is useful even though it is unreflective. Object relations theory offers the practitioner a way of fortifying himself against blind demand, while newer Freudian theorists cope with the problem by orienting themselves more stringently toward the original paradigm of optional choice.