Object relations theory

The object relations theory is a belief in psychoanalysis that humans form the basis of their adult personalities from interactive experiences as infants. Austrian psychoanalyst Melanie Klein first developed the theory in the early twentieth century. Klein researched her ideas by watching her own children play. She believed that infants transform important elements of their world into "objects." The infants' experiences with those objects are then embedded into their unconscious minds. The theory holds that adult behavior and emotional responses are based on the unconscious recollections of those stored experiences.

Background

Psychoanalysis is a form of psychological treatment that studies the unconscious mind. Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud pioneered the field in the late nineteenth century. Freud and a colleague were working with a patient who was experiencing unexplained symptoms of paralysis, hallucinations, and an inability to speak. While placed under hypnosis, the young woman was able to recollect memories from her past that Freud believed caused her condition. By using therapy gained from the hypnosis, Freud and his colleague were able to treat some of her symptoms successfully.

From this case, Freud theorized that some life experiences are not present in the conscious mind but are stored only in the unconscious. These repressed memories manifest themselves as physical or mental symptoms. To treat the symptoms, the memories must find an outlet in the conscious mind. The conscious mind contains memories, thoughts, and experiences that a person is aware of; the unconscious mind consists of those elements the conscious is not aware of. Freud believed the unconscious mind was the fundamental source of human psychological motivation and personality.

Freud's work in psychoanalysis further divided human personality into three parts. The id is a part of the unconscious mind, and it is controlled by the desire to fulfill instinctual biological needs. The ego is the part of the personality responsible for coordinating the needs of the id with the reality of the outside world. The superego is another part of the unconscious mind. It includes the conscience (the part of the mind that determines right from wrong) and the ego ideal (the concept of the perfect "self" formed by interactions with parents and models in society).

Overview

Melanie Klein was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1882. As a young girl, Klein had an interest in studying medicine, but she was forced to give up thoughts of a career when she became engaged and later married. Klein became a mother and moved across Europe with her husband, but she was deeply unhappy in her marriage. While living in Hungary, Klein began therapy with noted psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi, an associate of Freud. Klein was fascinated by Freud's work and motivated to begin studying psychoanalysis.

Ferenczi became her teacher and suggested she begin psychoanalyzing her own children. From her observations, Klein developed her theory on "play technique," in which children's activity during play is seen as a manifestation of their unconscious mind. Klein continued her work with children, and she published The Psychoanalysis of Children, a book that introduced the object relations theory, in 1932.

Klein theorized that infants absorb their interpretations of reality into their unconscious minds as "objects." These objects do not represent the actual physical object the infant sees. The child relates the object to a person—most often the mother—or an aspect connected to that person. For example, a child feeding at their mother's breast will see the object of the breast as representing the mother herself.

According to Klein, infants "split" the objects in their world into two forms—either all good or all bad. If the mother's breast contains milk, the breast is seen as a "good" object; if the breast is empty, the frustrated child sees it as "bad." Infants are unable to understand that the full breast is the same object as the empty one. They perceive each as a separate object. It is only as they grow that they are able to see the breast as a single object. This causes the child to view all objects—even loved objects such as a mother—as both good and bad.

Klein believed infants are born with an active fantasy element in their unconscious minds. A child who expects to feed may get angry when the mother's breast is empty and fantasize about "killing" the mother. Once the child realizes they have "killed" the mother in the fantasy, the child feels sadness and tries to make the mother come back. Klein's object relations theory holds that much of people's future personality is based on the unconscious recall of interactions with "objects" from the first months of life. For example, a person may unconsciously use their experiences with the mother "object" as a template for relating to older women.

Future psychologists built on Klein's work to refine the object relations theory and develop new ideas. Pediatrician Donald Winnicott theorized that infants develop a sense of self-worth though interactions with their mother. A child achieves a strong sense of self-worth and control if their actions result in a positive response from the mother. If those actions do not get the intended response, the child may feel frustrated and begin acting solely to get the mother's attention. This may cause a feeling of emptiness and a false sense of self-worth. At the same time, a mother who is overly attentive to an infant may create a sense of false self-worth in which the child becomes too dependent on the mother.

Psychoanalyst William Ronald Dodge Fairbairn accepted much of Klein's theory but believed infants were driven by a need to follow instinctual impulses. Psychiatrist Margaret Mahler believed children develop a strong sense of identity through an early nurturing relationship with their mother. By about the age of three, healthy children will begin to emerge from their mother's influence and create their own sense of self-identity.

Bibliography

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