Object Relations, the Self, and the Therapeutic Matrix

IN MY BOOK (HORNER, 1979) I HAVE attempted to bring together attachment theory, cognitive theory which deals with mental structures, and object relations theory. The major focus is on the evolution of a cohesive, reality-related, object-related self. This self develops within the context of the maternal matrix, and the primary mothering person is viewed as the mediator of organization. Analogously, psychotherapy (or psychoanalysis) is conceptualized as a therapeutic matrix within which the therapist is similarly seen as the mediator of organization. My approach can be understood as a theory of the self. The shift fom classical psychoanalytic drive theory to object relations or self theory is completed with the position that instinctual drive is only one aspect of experience which must be integrated within the self-representation along with other aspects of experience, whether they be of internal or environmental origin.

I will first present an overview of early development and its consequences with respect of character structure. Following this, I will address the issue of the psychoanalytic treatment of patients with character disorders, with defects or deficits in the structure of the self.

The development of object relations has become increasingly central to present day psychoanalytic theory. The work of Margaret Mahler (1968), (Mahler, Pine and Bergman 1975) on the separation-individuation process in particular, has played a major role in this shift in emphasis. The term object relations refers to the structural and psychodynamic inter-relationships between self- and