Object-Relations Theory PDF

O B J E C T R E L A T I O N S T H E O R Y MELANIE KLEIN 1 / 39 H E OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY MELANIE KLEIN PG. L Psychic Life of the Infant 06 O Positions...

O B J E C T R E L A T I O N S T H E O R Y MELANIE KLEIN 1 / 39 H E OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY MELANIE KLEIN PG. L Psychic Life of the Infant 06 O Positions 11 L Psychic Defense Mechanisms 17 Internalizations 22 Later Views on Object Relations 29 2 / 41  LEARNING OUTCOMES Be familiarized with the concepts proposed by Melanie Klein in her theory, Object Relations Theory Gain additional perspectives on the other iterations of Object Relations Theory 3 / 41  OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY OFFSPRING OF FREUD'S THEORY BUT STILL DIFFERENT IN MANY WAYS FREUD KLEIN Careful observation of first 4 to 6 years of life Careful observation of 4 to 6 months after birth The object of the drive is any person, part of a - begins with the basic assumption of Freud person, or thing through which the aim is - speculates on how the infant's real or satisfied fantasized early relations with the mother on the breast becomes a model for later interpersonal retionships Paternalistic Theory Maternalistic Theory Primary motive: sexual pleasure Primary motive: human contact and relatedness 2 / 41  Object person, and especially the significant person that is the object or target of another's feelings or intentions Relations interpersonal relations; OBJECT suggest that residues of past relationships affect a person in RELATIONS the present THEORY Object Relations theorists are interested in inner images of the self and others and how they manifest themselves in interpersonal situations emphasizes interpersonal relations, primarily in the family and especially between mother and child 5 / 41  PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT Infants do not begin life with a clean slate but with an Inherited Disposition Inherited Disposition - to reduce the anxiety they experience as a result of the conflict between life instinct and the power of death instinct There exists what is called as Phylogenetic Endowment - infant's innate readiness to act and react in a certain situation 6 / 41  PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT PHANTASIES The infant possesses an active phantasy life at birth. Phantasies are psychic representations of unconscious id instincts. Infants have no capacity to put thoughts into words and possess unconscious images of "good" and "bad" Example: Full stomach is good Empty stomach is bad 7 / 41  PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT PHANTASIES As the infant matures, unconscious phantasies connected with the breast continue to exert impact on his psychic life Example: Oedipus Complex - the child's wish to destroy one parent and sexually possess the other 8 / 41  PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT OBJECTS Humans have innate drives or instincts including a death instinct Drives must have some object Drives like those for sex, hunger, and affection have objects * In object relations theory, objects are usually persons, parts of persons, or symbols of one of these. 9 / 41  PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT OBJECTS Early infancy children relate to these external objects both in fantasy and reality Earliest object relations: mother's breast Later on: the child's interest includes the face, the hands Infants introject or take into their psychic structure these external objects and then become the child's own representations 10 / 41  POSITIONS The infant is engaged in constant struggles with the basic conflict between life instinct and death instinct Good and Bad Love and Hate Creativity and Destruction Infants prefer gratifying sensations over frustrating ones Positions are ways of dealing with both internal and external objects; they represent normal social growth and development 11 /41  POSITIONS PARANOID - SCHIZOID POSITION Early infancy children relate to these external objects both in fantasy and reality Earliest object relations: mother's breast Later on: the child's interest includes the face, the hands Infants introject or take into their psychic structure these external objects and then become the child's own representations 12 / 41  POSITIONS PARANOID - SCHIZOID POSITION first 3 to 4 months of life ambivalent feelings toward his mother receives both gratification and frustrations compelled to both control her and/or destroy her at the same time adopt this position to resolve the conflict 13 / 41  POSITIONS PARANOID - SCHIZOID POSITION (AGGRESSIVE SPLITTING) This is a way of organizing experiences that includes both paranoid feelings of being persecuted and a splitting of internal and external objects into the good and the bad. The child attaches a positive value to nourishment and the life instinct while at the same time, assigning a negative value to hunger and the death instinct 14 / 41  POSITIONS DEPRESSIVE POSITION (INTEGRATIVE UNDERSTANDING) Feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object during 5th to 6th month the infant begins to see external objects as a whole; good and bad can exist in the same person the infant develops a more realistic picture of his mother mother is independent; can be both good and bad 15 / 41  POSITIONS DEPRESSIVE POSITION (INTEGRATIVE UNDERSTANDING) The child can now recognize the loved object and the hated object as one and the same​ This position is resolved when they have made reparations for their past transgressions and that their mother will not go away permanently but will return after each departure​ *Unresolved depressive position: lack of trust, morbid mourning of a loss loved one 16 / 41  PSYCHIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS protect their ego against anxiety aroused by their own destructive fantasies​ oral-sadistic anxiety concerning the mother's breast PROJECTIVE INTROJECTION PROJECTION SPLITTING IDENTIFICATION taking into their body those fantasy that one’s own feelings occurs when a person (especially when an infant split off perceptions and experiences that and impulses actually reside in a child) can't keep two unacceptable parts of him, they had with the external another person and not within contradictory thoughts or projects them into another objects (mother breast) one’s body feelings in mind at the same time object, and finally, introject them back into him in a changed or distorted form 17 / 41  taking into their body those perceptions and experiences that they had with the external objects (mother breast) INTROJECTION PSYCHIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS a) introject good objects = take them inside as a protection against anxiety ​b) introject bad objects = gain control over them ​c) introject dangerous objects = become internal persecutors; terrifies the infant​ 18 / 41  fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses actually reside in another person and not within one’s body PROJECTION PSYCHIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS to get rid of both good and bad objects in order to lessen the feelings of anxiety 19 / 41  occurs when a person (especially a child) can't keep two contradictory thoughts or feelings in mind at the same time SPLITTING PSYCHIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS keeps the conflicting feelings apart and focuses on just one of them​ 20 / 41  when an infant splits off unacceptable parts of him, projects them into another object, and finally, introjects them back into him in PROJECTIVE a changed or distorted form IDENTIFICATION PSYCHIC DEFENSE Example: MECHANISMS A husband who has a strong but unwanted tendency to dominate others.​ He projects these feelings to his wife, whom he now sees as domineering.​ He behaves with excessive submissiveness to force his wife to display the tendencies he has deposited in her. 21 / 41  INTERNALIZATIONS THE PERSON TAKES IN (INTROJECTS) ASPECTS OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD AND ORGANIZES THOSE INTROJECTIONS INTO A PSYCHOLOGICALLY MEANINGFUL FRAMEWORK. EGO SUPEREGO OEDIPUS COMPLEX 22 / 41  Mostly unorganized at birth but strong enough to:​ a) feel anxiety ​b) use defense mechanisms EGO ​c) form early object relations in both phantasy and reality (ONE'S SENSE OF SELF) the infant experiences both the good breast and the bad breast The ego must first become split, before a unified ego can emerge ​~ Infants innately strive for integration ​~ forced to deal with opposing forces of life and death​ To avoid disintegration, the ego must split into:​ the good me and the bad me -​ perceptions become more realistic and the ego becomes more integrated as the infant matures​ 23 / 41  - starts to form at the beginning of life​ - not an outgrowth of Oedipus complex but grows along with it SUPEREGO ​- much more harsh and cruel for it produces not guilt but terror​ ** Young children fear being devoured, cut up and torn into pieces (these fears are greatly out of proportion to any realistic dangers)​ - lies on the infant’s own destructive instinct manifested as anxiety ​- the child’s ego mobilizes the life instinct to cope with anxiety ​- the child has to defend itself from his own actions (through this, the superego may develop) 24 / 41  - begins during the earliest months of life ​- overlaps with the oral and anal stages ​ OEDIPUS COMPLEX - climax: genital stage (around age 3 or 4) ​- product of children’s fear of retaliation from their parent - child retains positive feelings toward both his parents ​- children are capable of both homosexual and heterosexual relations with both parents​ - Female Oedipal Development - Male Oedipal Development 25 / 41  - sees the mother’s breast as both good and bad​ - sees her whole mother as full of good things and leads her to imagine how babies are made OEDIPUS COMPLEX ​- sees her father feeding her mother with riches, including babies FEMALE OEDIPAL DEV'T >> develops a positive relationship with her father​ - If it proceeds smoothly, the girl adopts a “feminine” position and has a positive relationship with both parents ​- there are times when the little girl sees her mother as a rival ​- Paranoid fear might develop​ - primary fear: inside of her body has been injured by her mother ​- resolution: childbirth ​- penis envy: stems from the little girl’s wish to internalize her father’s organ and to receive a baby from him 26 / 41  - little boy sees his mother’s breast as both good and bad ​- boy shifts some of his oral desires from his mother’s breast to his father’s organ OEDIPUS COMPLEX ​- boy adopts feminine positions (a passive homosexual attitude) MALE OEDIPAL DEV'T toward his father​ - must have a good feeling about his father’s organ before he can value his own​ - then he moves to heterosexual relationship with his mother​ - As the boy matures, he develops oral-sadistic impulses towards his father (that may lead to castration anxiety​) - this fear/anxiety convinces him that sexual intercourse with his mother would be extremely dangerous to him 27 / 41 OEDIPUS COMPLEX Healthy Resolutions to Oedipus Complex Children must have the ability to allow their mother and father to come together and to have sexual intercourse with each other.​ Positive feelings towards their parents lead to positive sexual relations during their adult life. 28 / 41  LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT RELATIONS MARGARET MAHLER HEINZ KOHUT JOHN BOWLBY MARY AINSWORTH Mahler's Developmental Stages Self Psychology Attachment Theory Strange Situation 29 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS Psychological Birth - child becomes an individual separate from his primary caregiver​ - leads ultimately to a sense of identity ​- achieved through the three developmental stages and four substages 30 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES 1) Normal Autism ​2) Normal Symbiosis 3) Separation - Individuation Differentiation Practicing Rapprochement Libidinal Object Constancy 31 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES 1) Normal Autism - birth to about age 3 to 4 weeks ​- newborn infants = unhatched bird egg ​- long periods of sleep and general lack of tension ​- objectless stage = the infant naturally searches for the mother’s breast​ 32 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES 1) Normal Symbiosis ​- 4th-5th week up to 4th-5th month ​- infant behaves and functions as if he and his mother is an omnipotent system ​- recognition of the primary caregiver​ - establish symbiotic relationship with the mother ​- characterized by mutual cuing of infant and mother ​- mother and others = 'pre-objects'​ 33 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES 1) Separation - Individuation ​- 4th-5th month up to 30th-36th month​ - children become psychologically separated from their mothers ​- begin to develop feelings of personal identity ​- surrender their delusion of omnipotence and face their vulnerability to external threats​ - four substages: differentiation, practicing, rapprochement, libidinal object constancy 34 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES SEPARATION INDIVIDUATION a) Differentiation a) Practicing - 5th month up to 7th-10th; breaking away - signified by infants walking and crawling; starts from mother from 7-10 months up to 15-16 months​ -infant symbiotic orbit​ - children easily distinguish their body from their - starts to respond to mother and others​ mother's; development of autonomous ego but still do not like to lose sight of their mother​ 35 / 41  MARGARET MAHLER LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS MAHLER'S DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES SEPARATION INDIVIDUATION c) Rapprochement d) Libidinal Object Constancy - from 16th to 25th month of life - 3rd year of life; children develop a constant - there is now a desire to bring their mother and inner representation of their mother themselves back together - children must learn to function without their - children share every new acquisition of life skill or mother experience; separation anxiety and rapprochement - develop other object relations crisis 36 / 41  HEINZ KOHUT LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS SELF PSYCHOLOGY - Infants require adult caregivers to: gratify physical needs satisfy basic psychological needs - The self - evolves from a vague and undifferentiated image to a clear and precise sense of individual identity - Infants are naturally narcissistic 37 / 41  JOHN BOWLBY LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS ATTACHMENT THEORY Attachment Theory - Attachments formed in childhood have Two Fundamental Assumptions an important impact on adulthood - Childhood should be studied directly a) responsive and accessible caregver, creates secure base for the baby - Separation anxiety: three stages Protest b) attachments during chldhood are Despair where future friendships and Detachment relationships are based 38 / 41  MARY AINSWORTH LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS STRANGE SITUATION Mary Ainsworth developed a technique for measuring the type of attachment style that exists between the caregiver and the child and discovered three attachment styles: 1) Secure Attachment ​2) Anxious-Resistant Attachment 3) Anxious-Avoidant Attachment 39 / 41  MARY AINSWORTH LATER VIEWS ON OBJECT REALTIONS STRANGE SITUATION SECURE ANXIOUS- ANXIOUS- ATTACHMENT RESISTANT AVOIDANT Happy when the mother returns; Infants are ambivalent; Stays calm when the mother leaves wants to be held rejects soothing/comforting Accepts strangers, then Securely attached infants are Sends very conflicting messages avoids/ignores the mother or confidnt in the accessibility and caregiver when they come back responsiveness of their caregivers Approaches caregiver but also wants to turn away from caregiver 40 / 41 REFERENCE Feist, G. J., Roberts, T.-A., & Feist, J. (2021). Theories of personality. 41 / 41