Mental development

An attempt has been made to show how radically object relations theory departs from linear and biological models of development. The mind, it seems, is in a constant state of ebb and flow, moving at times towards development, and on other occasions regressing from it. Development seems to occur only when there are appropriate affective links between the structures of the mind. These links apparently need to be at the love-admiration end of the affective spectrum, so that centripetal forces predominate over centrifugal ones. It is this process of moving from fragmentation to integration, from alienation to responsibleness on the spatial plane, and from hatred to love on the affective plane that we tend to call development.