This paper explores some of the dynamics of hateful relationships between parts of the self as they are played out between patient and therapist. The patients described are dominated by a ruthless i nownternal object bent upon eliminating the most vulnerable parts of the self and the potentially helpful external object. In its most extreme form this type of hatred becomes psychotic when it destroys the means of perception. Also considered is the hatred experienced by the therapist, and a distinction made between ‘objective’ hatred and that resulting from the projection into the therapist of a hating internal object.