Object Relations and its Clinical Implications

Since Fairbairn26 and Guntrip36 elaborated a theoretical perspective relating interpersonal action and personality structure, the importance of object relations as psychic structuralizers is assumed.13, 61 Fairbairn's reorientation in the construction of object relations theory75 is based on an ahistorical dynamic approach to reconstructive data.25 He develops one view of the relationship between outer and inner worlds based on Klein's60 conception of the psyche as a personalized inner world. Since that time, observations of infant growth and the concomitant maturation of cognitive processes have contributed additional information about the development of the ego. The impact of Fairbairn's formulations can be observed theoretically in the acceptance of motivational principles other than traditionally considered instincts by mainstream psychoanalysts,80 and the acceptance of the structural unit of self and other images linked in relation.73 Fairbairn26 has also made useful clinical observations. While it is not possible to elaborate all interrelationships between reconstructive, observational, and cognitive approaches, two points are noted in this article where these viewpoints together provide a more comprehensive view of developmental processes. The syndrome of depersonalization, as seen in mental representations,13 and character structure,48 are then suggested as another index for observing psychic structure along a developmental view of object relations. In addition, implications are drawn for psychotherapeutic treatment.

Different authors propose different reference points for the beginning of the ego as an organization of personality,17 but a consistent object-relations approach states that early ego development occurs with attachment to an object. Studies of early ego development vary according to source of data. However, most observers warn against