For some time, authors have sought to combine the concepts of conflict theory and object relations theory. This effort continues, as this book illustrates. The author uses as his frame of reference Freud's concept of the negative therapeutic reaction. Early in the book he elaborates Jacobson's theory of "positive and negative self and object representation units" (p. 9), which, he states, integrates drive theory and object relations theory. Further on, he utilizes the work of Fairbairn to make Jacobson's theory move from "static to dynamic." This, the author states, will be "useful as a clinical model for understanding the dynamics of a negative therapeutic reaction" (p. 9).

Seinfeld having thus defined his hypothesis, the reader expects him to go on to marshal clinical data and other theoretical concepts