Object Relational Perspective

Object relations theory is that branch of psychodynamic thought that focuses on relationships
being more crucial to personality development than are individual drives and abilities (see
Greenberg and Mitchell 1983). Here, the important identity-preceding structure is the self, a
personality structure formed out of interpersonal interactions. The view of the development of
the self presented here combines the thought of Bowlby (1982), Mahler et al. (1975), and Kohut
(1977). The self is formed in infancy and early childhood (up to four years of age) out of the
internalized and ‘metabolized’ interactions between the child and significant other persons
(sometimes called ‘self-objects’). Although the origins of the self lie in self-other interchanges,
the self is experienced as one's own, and one comes to sense one's existence as both a separate
and interdependent being. The conditions necessary for the establishment of a self include an
initial period of undifferentiated symbiosis (Winnicott's ‘dual unity’) with a
mothering/caregiving figure, differentiation from that figure, attachment to the caregiver and
other significant objects, exploratory back and forth movements from the attachment figure, and
eventual individuation as the self–other interactions become internalized and take the form of a
secure self. Concurrent with, and following, the establishment of a self are conditions, described
by Kohut (1977), that promote the maintenance and enhancement of that self. These are the
presence of several kinds of ‘self-objects,’ namely ‘mirroring’ (an object who reflects the infant's
ambitious grandiosity), ‘idealizing’ (an object who can be admired, identified with, and whose
strength can be shared), and twinship' (a ‘best friend,’ a companion of one's heart). These self-
objects continue to be important to self-maintenance and enhancement throughout the life cycle.
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Psychodynamic Perspectives on Body Image
J.L. Jarry, in Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance, 2012
Object Relations and Body Image
Object relations theories offer an explanation of both how the experience of the body contributes
to psychological development and how body image disturbance develops as a result of people’s
early psychological history. Based on extensive observation of children, Margaret Mahler
proposed a phase theory of human development in which the body image starts to form from the
very beginning of life, in the interaction between the child and the mother. Essentially, the
mother’s handling creates physical sensations that literally form the reality of the body as being a
separate entity from the outside world. It is her hands on the child’s body that convey for the
child the very first sense of his physical existence with boundaries.
Initially, the child is fused to the mother in a state of psychological symbiosis. As he develops,
however, maturational pressures push him to explore his environment. This involves a distancing
from the mother that is difficult for the child because of his deep attachment needs to her. Thus,
the child simultaneously feels the need to maintain his connection to his mother and to explore
the environment, an impossible proposition if she is a physical entity.
Initially, he solves this problem by alternating between moving away from her and checking
back to ensure that she is still there. However, as he needs to explore further and checking in
becomes impractical, he needs to mentally represent her. To solve this problem, the child
cathects an object that has mother-like properties. This transitional object usually is soft,
malleable, and fragrant. It is also invested with the capacity to perform for the child the
psychological functions that the mother thus far provided, such as emotional support and
reassurance.
Theorists such as Winnicott as well as Sugarman and Kurash further elaborated the role of the
transitional object in psychological development. They suggest that the first transitional object is
the child’s body, as it is the first vehicle through which the child experiences sensations from the
mother. Thus, contact with one’s own body can serve transitional function by evoking the
contact with the mother. However, as the child matures and becomes more involved with the
outside world, he cathects external objects that are then used as transitional objects.
Importantly, these external transitional objects involve higher symbolization activity than did the
body. The adoption of external transitional objects replaces the concrete, embodied experience of
the mother with the beginning of a mental representation of her that, at this point, still requires
the concrete support of an actual physical object. As the child further matures, he becomes
capable of fully mentally representing the mother, which makes actual physical transitional
objects unnecessary. When in need of psychological support, the child (and later on the adult)
can evoke this internalized, well-represented object and experience its comfort.
For this process to unfold successfully, the mother needs to act as a secure base. This means that
she must support the child’s exploration, which will promote her eventual mental representation.
She must also remain consistently available when the child returns for reassurance of her
continued existence. Failure to offer this stable base creates a fear of its disappearance, forcing
the child to physically cling to the mother, lest she might vanish. Remaining physically fused to
the mother thwarts the child’s use of external transitional objects to represent her and thus, the
eventual development of a true mental representation of the object and of its functions.
Failure to develop true external transitional objects, and eventually fully symbolized ones, means
that the body remains the main transitional object. It also means that the functions served by
truly internalized and symbolized psychological objects are assumed through the body, thus
creating a concrete, embodied way of seeking reassurance, soothing, and connection with the
object.
What then are disorders of the body image within an objects relation framework? In the absence
of a represented transitional object, body experiences are used to regain a sense of connection
with the original object. For example, the act of binging is used to recreate the experience of
being fed, an act originally performed by the mother, thus recreating the experience of
connection with her. Here, food is not the issue, rather it is the evocative properties of the
sensations associated with food ingestion that are sought and used to relieve feelings such as
loneliness and fear, all of which originally found relief in the connection with the object.
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Socialization and Education: Theoretical Perspectives
K.A. Schneewind, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
3.2.2 Attachment theory
Although object relations theories bear some resemblance to attachment theory, the empirical
status of the latter is much more elaborated. Attachment theory which combines concepts drawn
from ethology, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, and systems theory has sparked off a
multitude of theoretical, methodological, and empirical refinements (Cassidy and Shaver 1999).
Of particular importance is the discovery of various attachment types (i.e., secure, resistant,
avoidant and disorganized/disoriented attachment in infancy; secure, preoccupied, anxious, and
dismissing attachment in adulthood) and corresponding internal working models. Moreover, it
has been shown that specific aspects of socialization are related to different attachment types in
theoretically meaningful ways. For example, several aspects of caregiving that promote secure
mother–infant attachments have been found. These include characteristics such as sensitivity,
positive attitude, synchrony, mutuality, support and stimulation. Similarly, a number of distinct
interpersonal behaviors such as mutual need for intimacy, exchange of positive affect, and
constructive conflict resolution have been observed in adult relationships belonging to the secure
type.
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Psychoanalysis: Current Status
O.F. Kernberg, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
2.5 An Object Relations Theory Model of the Transference and Countertransference
Modern object relations theory proposes that, in the case of any particular conflict around sexual
or aggressive impulses, the conflict is imbedded in an internalized object relation, that is, in a
repressed or dissociated representation of the self (‘self representation’) linked with a particular
representation of another who is a significant object of desire or hatred (‘object representation’).
Such units of self-representation, object representation and the dominant sexual, dependent or
aggressive affect linking them are the basic ‘dyadic units,’ whose consolidation will give rise to
the tripartite structure. Internalized dyadic relations dominated by sexual and aggressive
impulses will constitute the id; internalized dyadic relations of an idealized or prohibitive nature
the superego, and those related to developing psychosocial functioning and the preconscious and
conscious experience, together with their unconscious, defensive organization against
unconscious impulses, the ego. These internalized object relations are activated in the
transference with an alternating role distribution, that is, the patient enacts a self representation
while projecting the corresponding object representation onto the analyst at times, while at other
times projecting his self representation onto the analyst and identifying with the corresponding
object representation. The impulse or drive derivative is reflected by a dominant, usually
primitive affect disposition linking a particular dyadic object relation; the associated defensive
operation is also represented unconsciously by a corresponding dyadic relation between a self
representation and an object representation under the dominance of a certain affect state.
The concept of countertransference, originally coined by Freud as the unresolved, reactivated
transference dispositions of the analyst is currently defined as the total affective disposition of
the analyst in response to the patient and his/her transference, shifting from moment to moment,
and providing important data of information to the analyst. The countertransference, thus
defined, may be partially derived from unresolved problems of the analyst, but stems as well
from the impact of the dominant transference reactions of the patient, from reality aspects of the
patient's life, and sometimes from aspects of the analyst's life situation, that are emotionally
activated in the context of the transference developments. In general, the stronger the
transference regression, the more the transference determines the countertransference; thus the
countertransference becomes an important diagnostic tool. The countertransference includes both
the analyst's empathic identification with a patient's central subjective experience (‘concordant
identification’) and the analyst's identification with the reciprocal object or self representation
(‘complementary identification’) unconsciously activated in the patient as part of a certain dyadic
unit, and projected onto the analyst (Racker 1957). In other words, the analyst's
countertransference implies identification with what the patient cannot tolerate in
himself/herself, and must dissociate, project or repress.
At this point, it is important to refer to certain primitive defensive operations that were described
by Klein (1952) and her school in the context of the analysis of severe character pathology.
Primitive defensive operations are characteristic of patients with severe personality disorders,
and emerge in other cases during periods of regression. They include splitting, projective
identification, denial, omnipotence, omnipotent control, primitive idealization, and devaluation
(contempt). All these primitive defenses center on splitting, i.e., an active dissociation of
contradictory ego (or self) experiences as a defense against unconscious intrapsychic conflict.
They represent regression to the phase of development (the first two to three years of life) before
repression and its related mechanisms mentioned are established.
Primitive defensive operations present important behavioral components that tend to induce
behaviors or emotional reactions in the analyst, which, if the analyst manages to ‘contain’ them,
permit him to diagnose in himself projected aspects of the patient's experience. Particularly
‘projective identification’ is a process in which: (a) the patient unconsciously projects an
intolerable aspect of self experience onto (or ‘into’) the analyst; (b) the analyst unconsciously
enacts the corresponding experience (‘complementary identification’); (c) the patient tries to
control the analyst, who now is under the effect of this projected behavior; and (d) the patient
meanwhile maintains empathy with what is projected. Such complementary identification in the
countertransference permits the analyst to identify himself through his own experience with the
aspects of the patient's experience communicated by means of projective identification. This
information complements what the analyst has discovered about the patient by means of
clarification and confrontation, and permits the analyst to integrate all this information in the
form of a ‘selected fact’ that constitutes the object of interpretation. Interpretation is thus a
complex technique that is very much concerned with the systematic analysis of both transference
and countertransference.
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Volume 3
John F. Clarkin, ... Julia Sowislo, in Encyclopedia of Mental Health (Third Edition), 2023
Levels of personality organization and treatment planning
A major advantage of object relations theory is its origins in the intensive treatment of patients
with a range of personality pathology, its close attention to levels of personality dysfunction
severity, and the related adjustment of treatment to the pathology of the individual patient.
Diagnosis of level of personality organization has direct and reliable implications for treatment
planning.
Individuals organized at a neurotic level of personality organization have a very favorable
prognosis and can benefit from relatively unstructured treatments. These patients typically do not
have difficulty establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance, and transference distortions
(e.g. distorted views of the therapist) tend to be slowly developing, consistent, and subtle. In
contrast, individuals organized at a borderline level, particularly those in the low borderline
spectrum, require a highly structured treatment setting. These individuals have great difficulty
establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance; transference distortions develop rapidly, and
are highly affectively charged and extreme, often leading to disruption of the treatment.
For patients organized at a neurotic level, psychodynamic treatment is organized around the goal
of reducing rigidity in personality functioning. For patients organized at a borderline level of
organization, the treatment goal is reducing identity pathology and promoting normal identity
consolidation. More progress toward this goal is expected with high and mid-level borderline
organization as compared to low level borderline organization. The progress on these goals will
be manifest in the changes in the transference relationship between patient and therapist and in
improved relations in friendships, intimacy, and work. The technical approach is to explore
patients' internal object relations as they are activated in interpersonal relationships with
significant others and with the clinician (e.g. transference).
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Body Image Development – Girl Children
L. Smolak, in Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance, 2012
Introduction
During the 1980s, object relations theory was still quite evident in discussions of the etiology and
treatment of eating disorders. This reflected a nearly century-long position that the relationship
between the body and self was rooted in infancy. From this perspective, one of the primary
developmental accomplishments of the infancy period was the differentiation of one’s body, and
hence the control of that body, from others, particularly the mother. Thus, body image
development began in infancy. As professionals from various fields began to conceptualize body
image mainly within the context of women’s eating disorders, this approach gradually faded and
was replaced with a more narrow focus on weight and shape dissatisfaction resulting in less
attention to body image among young children.
To further complicate body image research with children, theorists have typically tried to simply
apply the models and measures developed for adults to children. Thus, for example, media and
peers are often investigated as risk factors for body dissatisfaction among children and measures
such as children’s versions of figure ratings and the Eating Attitudes Test have been employed.
Such practices have likely resulted in both an underestimation and a misestimation of body
image development in early childhood.
This article focuses on the development of body image in girls under the age of 12 years. The
first section describes the developmental progression of body image from infancy to
preadolescence. The second section concerns risk and protective factors for body image
problems, particularly body dissatisfaction. The third section examines the implications of body
image for psychosocial functioning and girls’ efforts to bring their bodies in line with social
standards. The final section summarizes the research while delineating some of the problems and
gaps in the research that require additional investigation.
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Foundations
Peter Fonagy, in Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, 1998
1.14.4.1 Introduction to the Object Relations Approach
Greenberg and Mitchell (1983), in their definitive review of theoretical work on object relations
theory to date, use the term to denote theories “concerned with exploring the relationship
between real, external people and the internal images and residues of relations with them and the
significance of these residues for psychic functioning” (p. 14).
The rise of object relations theories signaled a change of focus in psychodynamic theories.
Intrapsychic conflict, particularly conflicts relating to the sexual and aggressive drives, and the
central organization of oedipal compromises and the complementary influences of biological and
experiential forces in development are no longer the cornerstones of psychodynamic theory, a
change which has been regretted by some (see, e.g., Spruiell, 1988). Regardless of particular
theoretical models, psychodynamic thinking seems to have moved in the 1980s towards a
phenomenologically based perspective which emphasizes the individual's experience of being
with others and with the therapist during clinical work (see, e.g., Loewald, 1986). The clinical
emphasis upon experience inevitably drives theory away from a structural mechanistic model
towards what Mitchell (1988) broadly terms “relational theory.” Patients in treatment express
themselves in terms of relationships (Modell, 1990), and the move towards object-relations-
based psychodynamic theories may thus be seen as led by an increasing demand on clinicians to
explore clinical phenomena from the point of view of the patient.
There are several assumptions which object relations theories share (see Fonagy, Target, Steele,
& Gerber, 1995b). These include:
(i)

that severe pathology has pre-oedipal origins (i.e., the first three years of life);
(ii)

that the pattern of relationships with objects becomes increasingly complex with
development;
(iii)

that the stages of this development represent a maturational sequence which exists across
cultures but which nevertheless may be distorted by pathological personal experiences;
(iv)

that early patterns of object relations are repeated, are in some sense fixed and
reproduced throughout life;
(v)

that the developmental continuum of these relationships is isomorphic with the

that patients" clinical reactions to their therapist provide a window for examining healthy
and pathological aspects of early relationship patterns.
There exist, however, considerable differences between psychoanalytic theories in terms of the
rigor with which the problem of object relationships is tackled. Friedman (1988) differentiates
between hard and soft object relations theories. Hard theorists, in which he includes Melanie
Klein, Fairbairn, and Kernberg, see much hate, anger, and destruction, and dwell on obstacles,
illness, and confrontation, whereas soft object relations theorists (Balint, Winnicott, and Kohut)
deal with love, innocence, growth needs, fulfillment, and progressive unfolding.
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Psychology of the Real Self: Psychoanalytic Perspectives
J.F. Masterson, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
2 The Real Self
In keeping with ego psychology and object relations theory, the term ‘real self’ is used in the
intrapsychic sense of the sum of self and object representations with their related affects.
The term ‘real’ is synonymous with healthy or normal. It is used to emphasize that the
representations of the real self have an important conscious reality component even though
unconscious and fantasy elements occur. It also indicates that the real self has an important
reality function: to provide a vehicle for self-activation and the maintenance of self- esteem
through the mastery of reality.
The term real self also helps to differentiate it from the false selves of the borderline and
narcissistic patients that are based primarily on defensive fantasy, not on reality, and are directed
toward defense, not toward self-expression in reality. When using the term real self, both the
collective subordinate self-representations and their supraordinate organization are referred to.
The real self exists as a parallel partner of the ego and has its own development, its own
capacities, and its own psychopathology. The self and the ego develop and function together in
tandem, like two horses in the same harness. If the ego is arrested in development, so is the self.
One aspect of the self could be viewed as the representational arm of the ego, although it is
obviously more than that. Similarly, one aspect of the ego, since it deals with volition and will
and with the activation and gratification of individuative wishes, could be viewed as the
executive arm of the self. However, it is also obviously more than that as its primary function is
maintaining intrapsychic equilibrium.
Erickson (1968) referred to the dual and inseparable nature of the self-ego as follows: Identity
formation can be said to have a self aspect and an ego aspect. What could be called the self
identity emerges from experiences from which temporarily confused (subordinate) selves are
successfully reintegrated in an ensemble of roles which also secure social recognition. One can
speak of ego identity when one discusses the ego's synthesizing power in the light of its central
psychosocial function and a self identity when the integration of the individual's self role images
are under discussion.
To differentiate between personal identity [or in my terms the real self—JFM] and ego identity:
personal entity is a conscious feeling based on two simultaneous observations: the perception of
the self sameness and continuity of one's existence in time and space, and the perception of the
fact that others recognize one's sameness and continuity. Ego identity, however, is the quality of
that existence in its subjective aspect; it is the awareness of the fact there is a self sameness and
continuity to the ego synthesizing methods.
The real self, then, provides an internal repertoire that, although finite and fixed, is varied and
flexible enough to blend the need for real self-expression with the external roles required by
adaptation.
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Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice
G.O. Gabbard, F. Rachal, in Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Second Edition), 2012
The British Independents
Other prominent theorists who contributed to the object relations theory include D. W.
Winnicott, W. R. D. Fairbairn, and Michael Balint, who are often referred to as the British
Independents. They were sufficiently different from the Kleinians and the traditional Freudians
and are recognized as a separate group.
The British Independents viewed the infant's environment as integral to development and
deemphasized the drives of sexuality and aggression that were fundamental in Klein's theory.
These psychoanalysts viewed the seeking of a maternal object as the primary motivator of the
infant instead of gratification of drives as Freud had argued. They also gave greater emphasis to
the real environment, in contrast to the Kleinians, who stressed the role of unconscious fantasy.
Many concepts developed from this shift in focus within the object relations theory, including
the concept of the ‘the good-enough mother,’ a term coined by Winnicott. The infant's
development depended on a mother or caregiver providing a nurturing and loving environment
that met the infant's basic needs. Winnicott also developed the distinction between the ‘true self’
and the ‘false self.’ The true self is the inborn tendency to seek self-realization and this can be
buried if the responses of the mother/caregiver do not facilitate its emergence. A ‘false self’
seeking to please the caregiver may emerge instead. Winnicott also made the ‘transitional object’
part of developmental thinking. This object could be a blanket, or pacifier, or any other object
that symbolized the mother during times of separation. The transitional object comforts the child
who misses the mother.
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Family Therapy
Anne K. Fishel PhD, David Harris Rubin MD, in Massachusetts General Hospital
Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry, 2008
The Theory
This therapy is derived from principles of object relations and Freudian theory. The goal
for psychodynamic family therapy, as with individual psychodynamic therapy, is more self-
awareness, which is created by bringing unconscious material into conscious thought. At the
heart of this practice is the notion that current family problems are due to unresolved issues with
the previous generation. Interpersonal function is distorted by attachments to past figures and by
the handing down of secrets from one generation to the next. The psychodynamically oriented
family therapist wants to free the family from excessive attachment to the previous generation
and wants to help family members disclose secrets and express concomitant feelings (e.g., of
anger or grief). Change is created through insight that is often revealed in one individual at a
time, in a serial fashion, as others look on.