The Independent or
“Middle” School
Geoff Goodman, Ph.D.
I. Major Figures of the
Independent School
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
William Fairbairn
Donald Winnicott
Harry Guntrip
Michael Balint
John Bowlby
II. Shared Assumptions of
the Independent School
A. The primacy of object-sucking over
instinct gratification
B. Ego and objects are always
connected by an affective link
C. Drive energy is not inherent in the
existence of the ego and objects
D. Helplessness or infantile
dependence on the mother is the
primary state of being, not primary
narcissism
Continued…
E. Separation anxiety is the primary
subject matter of psychopathology,
not castration anxiety and the
Oedipal conflict
F. Deficiencies in caregiving
environment, not conflict between
drives and society, are the ultimate
cause of psychopathology
Continued…
G. Development proceeds not in
psychosexual stages but from infantile
dependence to mature dependence
H. Psychopathology is derived from an
accommodation to maternal caregiving,
not a distortion of it through the cycle
of projection and introjection
I. The integrity of the self determines
drive modulation, not drive intensity
Continued…
J. Aggression is not a constitutional drive
but emerges from frustration with a
seductive or unresponsive, unmirroring
caregiving environment
K. Treatment consists of unblocking the
natural process of development toward
mature dependence to overcome
caregiving deficits rather than making
interpretations to integrate intrapsychic
conflicts
Continued…
L. Infant prewired for adaptation and
adjustment rather than initially
psychotic and later depressed (a
developmental achievement)
M. Repression consists of making
unconscious certain aspects of
caregiver-infant relationship rather than
exclusively traumatic memories or
forbidden impulses
III. The Theory of William
Fairbairn
A. The infant begins with a whole,
harmonious ego
B. The ego becomes split from this initial
whole
1. libidinal ego
a. connected to exciting object
1) repository for hopes of
connection and gratification
2) idealized aspects of frustrating
experiences with object
b. experiences of seduction and unfulfilled
needs by real object
Continued…
2. antilibidinal ego
a. connected to rejecting object
1) repository of anger and wish to
withdrawl from objects to protect
from pain of abandonment
2) devalues aspects of rejecting
experiences with object and relations
with all objects
b. experiences of rejection and
abandonment by real object
Continued…
3. central ego
a. connected ideal object (moral
defense) and real object in external
world
1) basis for all external relations
with real people
2) energy devoted to relationships
with real objects siphoned off by
relationships to exciting object and
rejecting object
Continued…
4. infant develops these objects in
relation to both mother and father,
which are integrated into one
rejecting object and one exciting
object
Continued…
C. Libido is adhesive and becomes
attached to “bad” objects--rejecting
and exciting objects--to compensate
1. bad objects internalized to exercise
control over them
2. bad objects internalized to preserve
goodness of the real object and keep alive
the hope that if the infant or child
changes, love will be forthcoming
Continued…
3. primary motivation is human
contact, not pleasure
4. psychosexual stages of libidinal
development represent different
modes of relatedness to objects
5. all psychosexual conflicts are
reduced to oral conflicts
Continued…
D. Aggression is not a primary
motivational factor
1. reaction to frustration of libido
(antilibidinal)
2. aggression expressed through antilibidinal
ego against rejecting object and exciting
object (withdrawal of real relations)
3. antilibidinal ego can be directed against
therapist’s awakening of hope,
represented in the transference as an
exciting object
Continued…
E. Three developmental phases
1. infantile dependence (relations with
real and compensatory objects)
2. transitional phase
3. mature dependence (renunciation
of attachment to rejecting and
exciting objects and real objects)
Continued…
F. Cure--renunciation of these
attachments and restoration of
split-off ego to original integrity
1. conflicts among these three object
relations create schizoid personality
2. establishment of relationship with
loving object helps to heal these
schisms in the psyche
IV. The Theory of Donald
Winnicott
A. The infant begins as a motherinfant unit
B. The infant wishes for fulfillment
of needs
1. mother presents fulfillment as
infant wishes for it
2. moment of illusion of infantile
omnipotence
Continued…
C. Primary maternal preoccupation wanes
1. gradual disillusionment of infant’s
omnipotence
2. introduction of objective reality
D. Pace of disillusionment
1. transitional object cushions fall from
omnipotence by creating potential space
between the real world and the infant’s
omnipotent world
Continued…
2. infant permitted to destroy
transitional object because it is not
totally under infant’s control, which
survives attacks and therefore
becomes real--outside infant’s
omnipotent control
Continued…
3. impingements--maternal
intrusions that prematurely
accelerate disillusionment process
a. withholding of gratification during
excited affect states
b. interference with infant’s capacity to
be alone--infant’s formlessness and
unintegration in quiescent affect
states
E. Formation of false self
1. hiding of true desires and innate
vitality from oneself and one’s
caregivers
2. impingements force self to focus on
environment rather than internal
subjective experience
3. a feeling of alienation from oneself
results
4. false self protects integrity of true self
Continued…
F. Cure--not interpretation but
manner in which the analytic
setting provides missing parental
provisions and fills early
developmental needs
V. Critique of the
Independent School
A. Overemphasis of the role of the
environment and underemphasis on
the role of genetics
B. Greater likelihood of boundary
violations in clinical practice (see
Ferenczi)
C. Naïve reconstruction of infancy in the
adult mind
D. Little empirical evidence (reliving birth
process on couch)