Object relations theory Object relations theory What was

Object relations theory

Object relations theory What was the one goal for you coming out of your childhood?

Melanie Klein • Differed from Freud in believing that the development of children could be analysed by ‘getting into the world of the baby’ • She identified this as object relations theory. • The child has experiences of self in relationship even before 3 years of age.

Part object Relevant terms to object relations theory Introject Projection Projective identification

The intrapsychic experience of relationships with others • Object is a term carried over from Freud’s theory of biological drives and the ‘target of the instinct’. • Klein identified the ‘target of the instinct’ as the object. The primary caregiver (most often mother and not always) is viewed by the child as the object. • In identifying the first 3 years as significant, Klein looked at the way the baby meets the world. • It’s all about gratification of self.

The mindset of the baby. Infantile ways of thinking • What’s yours is mine • What’s mine is my own • What’s yours is half mine • and half the other half’s mine • So it’s all mine

Internal world of the infant What would be the baby’s main considerations/challenges when coming into the world?

The infant’s world - Part object The infant is unable to hold the whole object so holds part • Breast • Nipple • Bottle • Dummy • Faces • Body parts • Light • Sound • Hot and cold water

Part – object relating Necessary to manage our anxiety in a chaotic world and ultimately our survival.

If the baby is feeling comfortable and safe and the milk comes freely the baby will see the breast as good. If the baby is feeling distressed, anxious and frustrated in their struggle to get milk then the breast is bad. Splitting

Part - objects These part objects can be experienced as; • Good or bad • Exciting or rejecting

Part objects We hold part objects as bad i. e. a house where we have had some bad experiences or a person as a bad object because there is a negative connection to childhood. or We idealise something because it makes us feel nice such as a blanket or a teddy or someone, because there is a positive connection to a childhood experience.

Personal experience Splitting

Object relating The paranoid phase Paranoid Klein identifies this splitting of good and bad in the paranoid phase of infancy. • “Your bad/I’m bad” 0 -3 months

The Paranoid experience The unconscious process of splitting, projection and introjection is an attempt to ease paranoid anxieties of persecution, internally and externally.

Object relating Depressive position Start to see mother as a whole object rather than part. With this comes loss and grief with the loss of the good object. • With enough of a reparative experience through this second phase, we stop polarising good and bad and start to see a more balanced view. “This object that I once hated I actually love” • 3 months onwards

The baby internalises or introjects the objects – literally by; Kleins perspective on introjection • Swallowing the nourishing breast milk, symbol of life and love, • but also through experiencing hunger pains and its own aggressive anger against the withholding Bad Breast inside its body. • These internalised introjects or imagoes form the basis of the baby’s ego.

Kleins perspective on Introjection Take in an aspect of object and it becomes part of how they see the world. i. e. boys don’t cry

Personal experience Introjection

Klein and Projection • Unbearable negative feelings as well as positive loving emotions are projected onto external objects. • In later life, we see the same process in adults projecting their unwanted fears and hatred onto other people.

Personal experience Projection

Klein and Projective identification • Projective Identification takes projection one stage further. • Rather than projecting unwanted split-off parts onto the object as though onto a blank screen, then either idealising them or feeling persecuted, projective Identification is the phantasy of projecting a part of oneself into the other person or object as if they are it or own it.

Klein and projective identification Unlike projection, in projective Identification there is a blurring of boundaries. The object being projected into (e. g. the mother) is an extension of the baby, therefore in his omnipotent phantasy, it can be controlled by him. And indeed, through subtle manipulations, the recipient can be made to feel and act in accordance with the projective phantasy. The infant, through various behaviors, can make his carer experience his frustration.

Personal experience Projective identification

Klein and counter-transference • Yet, despite planting the seed, Klein remained sceptical about countertransference, believing it interfered with therapy. If you have feelings about your patient, she said, you should do an immediate self-analysis (Grosskuth, 1987).

Personal experience Integrate with TA

Object relations theory What was the one goal for you coming out of your childhood?