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This readable book succeeds in its attempt to integrate and compare different object relations theories with self psychology. Comparative studies such as this one build conceptual bridges between the different object relations theories, as well as clarify and sharpen their similarities and differences.
The first of this book's four parts is a review of early theories of object relations, including a discussion of the writings of Ian Suttie and Harry Stack Sullivan. Part II compares classical psychoanalysis with theories of object relations and reviews the contributions of Otto Kernberg, Melanie Klein, Margaret Mahler, and Heinrich Racker. Part III discusses the writings of Michael Balint, John Bowlby, W.R.D. Fairbairn, Harry Guntrip, and D. W. Winnicott. Part IV, “Self Psychology (selfobject theory)”, provides an overview of the self psychology theories of Heinz Kohut as well as of some of the more recent contributors to the self psychology movement.
The book has three aims: (1) to present a summary of the central ideas of the major object relations theorists; (2) to examine ways in which object relations theories articulate with or lead to a systematic