Object relations theory views relationships with others as central to human motivation and development. It diverges from Freud's view that drives are primary, instead suggesting humans are motivated by the need for contact and relationships, especially with caregivers like the mother. Melanie Klein was influential in developing this theory, emphasizing the importance of the first few months/years of life and the development of internal representations of relationships. Object relations therapists help clients understand how early relationships shape present difficulties and improve functioning.

1. PRAGYA SHARMA

2. In object-relations theory, objects are usually persons, parts of
persons (such as the mother's breast), or symbols of one of these.
The primary object is the mother. The child's relation to an object
(e.g. the mother's breast) servers as the prototype for future
interpersonal relationships.
Object relations is a variation of psychoanalytic theory
that diverges from Sigmund Freud’s belief that humans are
motivated by sexual and aggressive drives, suggesting instead
that humans are primarily motivated by the need for contact with
others—the need to form relationships.

3. The aim of an object relations therapist is to help an
individual in therapy uncover early mental images
that may contribute to any present difficulties in one’s
relationships with others and adjust them in ways that
may improve interpersonal functioning.

4. The term “object relations” refers to the dynamic internalized
relationships between the self and significant others (objects). An
object relation involves mental representations of:
 The object as perceived by the self
 The self in relation to the object
 The relationship between self and object
For example, an infant might think:
 "My mother is good because she feeds me when I am hungry"
(representation of the object).
 "The fact that she takes care of me must mean that I am good"
(representation of the self in relation to the object).
 "I love my mother" (representation of the relationship).

5.  Klein is often credited with founding the object relations
approach. From her work with young children and
infants, she concluded that they focused more on
developing relationships, especially with their caregivers,
than on controlling sexual urges, as Freud had proposed.
Klein also focused her attention on the first few months
of a child’s life, whereas Freud emphasized the
importance of the first few years of life.

6.  Fairbairn agreed with Klein when he posited that
humans are object-seeking beings, not pleasure-
seeking beings. He viewed development as a gradual
process during which individuals evolve from a state
of complete, infantile dependence on the caregiver
toward a state of interdependency, in which they still
depend on others but are also capable of being relied
upon.

7.  Winnicott stressed the importance of raising children
in an environment where they are encouraged to
develop a sense of independence but know that their
caregiver will protect them from danger. He
suggested that if the caregiver does not attend to the
needs and potential of the child, the child may be led
to develop a false Object Relations Theory

8.  Theory of Unconscious fantasy
 Paranoid-Schizoid Position
 Splitting
 Introjection and Projection
 Projective Identification
 Depressive Position
 Oedipus Complex
 Critical Evaluation
 Klein vs. Freud

9.  When she wrote of the dynamic fantasy life of infants, she did not
suggest that neonates could put thoughts into words. She simply
meant that they possess unconscious images of “good” and “bad.”
for example, a full stomach is good, an empty one is bad. Thus,
Klein would say that infants who fall asleep while sucking on
their fingers are fantasizing about having their mother’s good
breast inside themselves.
 She also observed that when a child was given the freedom to
express his or her Fantasies, which were then interpreted, their
anxiety decreased.

10.  Klein (1946) called the developmental stage of the first four to
six months the paranoid-schizoid position
 Indeed, while Freudian drive theory sprung from his Life
Instinct (Eros), Klein’s theories grew from her focus on the
Death Instinct (Thanatos), which Freud himself never fully
explored.
 Klein believed that ego formation begins from the moment of
birth when the newborn attempts to relate to the world through
part-objects – thus the object ‘mother’ becomes a part-object
‘breast’.

11.  Central to object relations theory is the notion of splitting, which
can be described as the mental separation of objects into "good"
and "bad" parts and the subsequent repression of the "bad," or
anxiety-provoking, aspects (Klein, 1932; 1935).
 Splitting occurs when a person (especially a child) can't keep two
contradictory thoughts or feelings in mind at the same time, and
therefore keeps the conflicting feelings apart and focuses on just
one of them.
 Splitting as a defense is a way of managing anxiety by protecting
the ego from negative emotions.

12.  The baby internalizes or introjects the objects – literally by
swallowing the nourishing breast milk, symbol of life and love,
but also though experiencing hunger pains and its own aggressive
anger against the withholding Bad Breast inside its body. These
internalized introjects or imagoes form the basis of the baby’s ego.
 The infant’s unconscious works to keep the Good Breast (and all it
symbolizes; love, the life instinct) safe from the Bad Breast
(feelings of hate and aggression, the death instinct).

13.  The unconscious process of splitting, projection and
introjection is an attempt to ease paranoid anxieties of
persecution, internally and externally. Unbearable
negative feelings as well as positive loving emotions
are projected onto external objects, as in Freud.
 In later life, we see the same process in adults
projecting their unwanted fears and hatred onto other
people, resulting in racism, war and genocide. We also
see it when people employ positive thinking or
conversely negative biases, seeing only what they want
to see in order to feel happy and safe.

14.  Projective Identification is a psychic defense mechanism in which
infants split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them
onto another object, and finally introject them back into
themselves in a changed of distorted form. By taking the object
back into themselves, infants feel that they have become like that
objects, that is, they identify with that object.
 Exerts a powerful influence on adult interpersonal relationship.
 Unlike simple projection, which can exist in wholly in fantasy,
projective identification exists only in the world of real
interpersonal relationships.

15.  The Depressive Position first manifests during weaning – around three
to six months – when a child comes to terms with the reality of the
world and its place in it. At the heart of the Depressive Position is loss
and mourning: mourning the separation of self from the mother,
mourning the loss of the narcissistic fantasy where the child’s Ego was
the world, mourning the objects it has hurt or destroyed through
aggression and envy. But from the ruins there arises first the feeling of
guilt, then the drive for reparation and love.
 In the Depressive Position, a child learns to relate to its objects in a
completely new way. It has less need for splitting, introjection and
projection as defenses and begins to view inner and outer reality more
accurately. Part-objects are now viewed as whole people, who have their
own relationships and feelings; absence is experienced as a loss rather
than a persecutory attack. Instead of anger, the baby feels grief. It is at
around three months that a baby begins to cry real tears.

16.  At a conference in Salzberg in 1924, Klein dared to place
the Oedipus complex at around one to two years – a much
earlier stage than Freud’s six to seven years.
 Where Freud’s development of the superego was seen as a
good thing, Klein (1945) saw a hostile superego developing at
the oral stage. She also delineated between the experiences of
girls and boys and gave more power to the mother.
 The Oedipal crisis will morph in the Depressive Position into
one of separation and loss.

17.  Melanie Klein (1932) is one of the key figures in
psychoanalysis. Her unabashed disagreements with Freudian
theory and revolutionary way of thinking was especially
important in the development of child analysis.
 Her theories on the schizoid defenses of splitting and
projective identification remain influential in psychoanalytical
theory today.
 For Kleinians, the aim of psychoanalysis is to enable the adult
client to tolerate the Depressive Position more securely, even
though it is never fixed and we all topple into paranoid
fantasies and polarizing viewpoints. This echoes Freud’s aim
to help patients achieve a state of ‘ordinary unhappiness’.

18.  Psychoanalyst Jaqueline Rose (1993) has noted that, especially in
the USA, Klein’s work has been rejected because of her violence
and negativity. Klein herself wrote: ‘My method presupposes that I
have been from the beginning willing to attract to myself the
negative as well as the positive transference’..
 Perhaps due to the shocking violence and negative bias of Klein’s
infant fantasy world, the question that continues to be asked by
Klein’s critics is this: Whose reality was Klein interpreting – her
clients’ or her own?

19.  Melanie Klein  Sigmund Freud
 Places emphasis on interpersonal
relationship
 Places emphasis on biologically
based drives
 Emphasizes the intimacy and
nurturing of the mother
 Emphasizes the power and control
of the father
 Behavior is motivated by human
contact and relationships
 Behavior is motivated by sexual
energy (the libido)
 Klein stressed the importance of
the first 4 or 6 months
 Freud emphasized the first 4 or 6
years of life

20. Psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and social workers
may earn certification in object relations therapy from one of
several training institutions across the country. For example, the
International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI), formerly the
International Institute of Object Relations Theory, offers a two-
year certificate program in Object Relations Theory and Practice
for professionals involved in the mental health field.
The Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis offers a one-year introductory certificate program
in object relations theory and clinical technique, as well as a more
advanced two-year program.
The Ottawa Institute for Object Relations Therapy also certifies
psychotherapists in Object Relations Therapy.

21.  Object relations therapy focuses on helping individuals
identify and address deficits in their interpersonal
functioning
 They explore ways that relationships can be improved.
 A therapist can help people in therapy understand how
childhood object relations impact current emotions,
motivations, and relationships and contribute to any
problems being faced.
 Aspects of the self that were split and repressed can be
brought into awareness during therapy, and individuals can
address these aspects of themselves in order to experience a
more authentic existence.
 Therapy can often help a person to experience less internal
conflict and become able to relate to others more fully.

22. In the initial stage of object relations therapy, the
therapist generally attempts to understand, through
empathic listening and acceptance, the inner
world, family background, fears, hopes, and needs of
the person in therapy.
Once a level of mutual trust has been developed, the
therapist may guide the person in therapy into areas
that may be more sensitive or guarded, with the
purpose of promoting greater self-awareness and
understanding.

23.  During therapy, the behaviors of the person in
therapy may help the therapist understand how the
person is experienced and understood by others in
that person’s environment.
 Because the therapist is likely to react in such a way
as to encourage insight and help a person achieve
greater awareness, an individual may strengthen,
through the therapeutic process, the ability to form
healthy object relations, which can be transferred to
relationships outside of the counseling environment.

24.  The success of object relations therapy is largely
dependent on the nature of the therapeutic relationship.
 In the absence of a secure, trusting relationship, people in
therapy are not likely to risk abandoning their internal
objects or attachments, even if these relationships are
unhealthy.
 Therefore, it may be necessary for object relations
therapists to first develop an empathic, trusting
relationship with a person in therapy and to create an
environment in which an individual feels safe and
understood.

25.  Early object relations therapists were criticized for
underestimating the biological basis of some conditions, such
as autism, learning difficulties, and some forms of psychosis.
 Modern object relation theorists generally recognize that
therapy alone is not sufficient for treating certain issues and
that other types of therapy, as well as pharmacological
support, may be necessary in some cases.
 Time consuming therapy
 Object relations therapy can also become quite costly, due to
its length.

26.  Quick results may also be desired in some cases, such
as when a person experiences addiction or another
condition that may lead one to harm the self or other.
But this theory take more time to find the result.

27.  Mahler (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) formulated a theory
that describes the separation–individuation process of the infant
from the maternal figure (primary caregiver). She described the
process as progressing through three major phases, and further
delineated phase III, the separation–individuation phase, into
four subphases.
 Phase I: The Autistic Phase (Birth to 1 Month) In this phase,
also called normal autism, the infant exists in a half-sleeping,
half-waking state and does not perceive the existence of other
people or an external environment. The fulfillment of basic needs
for survival and comfort is the focus and is merely accepted as it
occurs.

28.  Phase II: The Symbiotic Phase (1 to 5 Months) Symbiosis is a
type of “psychic fusion” of mother and child. The child views the
self as an extension of the mother but with a developing
awareness that it is she who fulfills the child’s every need.
Mahler suggested that absence of, or rejection by, the maternal
figure at this phase can lead to symbiotic psychosis.
 Phase III: Separation– Individuation (5 to 36 Months) this third
phase represents what Mahler called the “psychological birth” of
the child. Separation is defined as the physical and psychological
attainment of a sense of personal distinction from the mothering
figure. Individuation occurs with a strengthening of the ego and
an acceptance of a sense of “self,” with independent ego
boundaries.

29.  Four subphases through which the child evolves in his or her
progression from a symbiotic extension of the mothering figure to
a distinct and separate being are described.
 Subphase 1—Differentiation (5 to 10 Months) The
differentiation phase begins with the child’s initial physical
movements away from the mothering figure. A primary
recognition of separateness commences.
 Subphase 2—Practicing (10 to 16 Months) with advanced
locomotor functioning, the child experiences feelings of
exhilaration from increased independence. He or she is now able
to move away from, and return to, the mothering figure. A sense
of omnipotence is manifested.

30.  Subphase 3—Rapprochement (16 to 24 Months) this third
subphase is extremely critical to the Child’s healthy ego
development. The child needs the mothering figure to be
available to provide “emotional refueling” on demand. Critical to
this subphase is the mothering figure’s response to the child. If
the mothering figure is available to fulfill emotional needs as they
are required, the child develops a sense of security in the
knowledge that he or she is loved and will not be abandoned.
However, if emotional needs are inconsistently met or if the
mother rewards clinging, dependent behaviors and withholds
nurturing when the child demonstrates independence, feelings of
rage and fear of abandonment develop and often persist into
adulthood.

31.  Subphase 4—Consolidation (24 to 36 Months) With
achievement of consolidation, a definite individuality
and sense of separateness of self are established.
Objects are represented as whole, with the ability to
integrate both “good” and “bad.” A degree of object
constancy is established as the child is able to
internalize a sustained image of the mothering figure as
enduring

32. The socio-behavioral development of children with
symptoms of attachment disorder: An observational
study of teacher sensitivity in special education

33.  Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)
exhibit socio-behavioral problems that hinder their
school adjustment. These socio-behavioral problems
appear relatively stable and it is not known what
influence special education teachers might have on the
development of these problems across a school year.
This study suggests that teacher sensitivity is associated
with changes in the socio-behavioral development of
children with Inhibited RAD symptoms. Whereas high
sensitivity was associated with improvements, low
sensitivity appeared to exaggerate the socio-behavioral
problems of these children.
 As children with Inhibited RAD symptoms have
difficulties communicating their needs .

34.  This study therefore highlights the need to support
teachers in interactions with children with Inhibited RAD
symptoms in order to help them understand how the
children's observable behaviors in the classroom may
convey their underlying socio-emotional needs and how
they can respond to these needs. Importantly, teacher
sensitivity was not associated with the socio-behavioral
development of children with Disinhibited RAD
symptoms (e.g., indiscriminate friendliness). Consistent
with previous research, this study suggests that children
with Inhibited RAD symptoms are more susceptible to
the quality of the caregiving environment than children
with Disinhibited RAD symptoms .

35.  To summaries, today we have discussed about objective
relation theory, basic concept of theory, objective,
limitation phases of theory.

36. Object relations theory proposes that the gradual
analysis of intersystemic conflicts between impulse and
defense (structured into conflicts between ego,
superego, and id, decomposes the tripartite structure
into the constituent conflicting internalized object
relations.

37. 1. Sreevani. A guide to mental health and psychiatric nursing 4th edition. New
Delhi: Jaypee Brothers medical publishers (P) Ltd; 2016.
2. Townsend marry c. Textbook of psychiatric mental health nursing 8th edition.
New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers medical publishers (P) Ltd; 2015.p.23-25.
3. Kutty A.B. Psychology in nursing. 1st edition. PHI private limited;2013.p.218.
4. The socio-behavioral development of children with symptoms of attachment
disorder: An observational study of teacher sensitivity in special education
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/horizons/article/object-relations-theory-
mothering-and-religion-toward-a-feminist-psychology-of-
religion/733D4F9B975DF6773E12DE3351A37D6A 09 September 2014.
5. Klein, M. (1935). A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive
states. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 16, 145-174.
6.Klein, M. (1945). The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 26, 11-33