Implications of Object Relations Theories for the Psychoanalytic Process

“Object relations theory” has come to be a common term in psychoanalytic discourse, and yet its contribution to the psychoanalytic process remains unclear. This ambiguity is partly due to the lack of clarity in the concept of “object relations.” It is typically used as a vague name for a variety of theories applicable to the conceptualization and treatment of preoedipal disorders. If used in this sense, the clinical implications focus on the extension of psychoanalytic theory and therapy to structural defects. Common to all these theories, however, is an emphasis on the formation of the personality from the internalization of object attachments. This view should have implications at all levels of psychopathology and, therefore, for the conduct of the psychoanalytic process. The purpose of this paper is to show how this object relations viewpoint can inform and expand the psychoanalytic process. After a brief overview of object relational theories, the implications of object relational principles for the psychoanalytic process are discussed from the point of view of clinical theory and then these implications are illustrated by their application to the psychoanalysis of a neurotic case.

The emphasis on object relations in psychoanalytic theory is an outgrowth of a historical trend that began with the recognition of the importance of the preoedipal mother-child attachment. Although he theorized about the preoedipal phase, Freud (1924) consistently focused