Object Relations Theories
Geoff Goodman, Ph.D.
Melanie Klein and her
Followers
I. Basic Developmental Origins of Klein’s
Theory
A. Death instinct- aggressive impulsesproduces annihilation anxiety and then
persecutory anxiety
B. Object attacked and destroyed, but
then fear of retaliation (e.g., Stuey on
Family Guy)
C. Real external experiences reinforce
these perceptions
D. Object also loved and idealized
Continued…
E. Splitting into good--idealized--breast to
protect against bad--dangerous and
persecuting--breast
F. Klein called this stage, “paranoidschizoid position” (0-4 months)
G. Primitive relations--internal and
external--created by projection and
introjection
H. Growing capacity for integration and
synthesis produces the second stage,
“depressive position” (4-6 months)
Continued…
I. Aggression had been directed all along
against loved person (good breast = bad
breast)
J. Anxiety and guilt of depressive position add
powerful impetus toward beginning of
Oedipus complex
K. Transference reveals irrationality of earliest
object- relations (“The patient is bound to
deal with conflicts and anxieties reexperienced towards the analyst by the
same method used in the past [in infancy]”
(Klein, 1953, p. 55))
II. Contributions of Klein’s Theory to the
Development of Object Relations as a
School of Thought
A. Objects exist from the beginning of
postnatal life
1. drives expressed through objects
2. drives do not exist without objects
3. relations to objects constitute the
origins and development of the ego
and superego, not frustrations
B. Drives are psychological entities,
not somatic entities
1. drives are relationships with objects
linked by affects that have a
particular valence (i.e., good or bad)
2. drives are expressed through bodily
functions
a. urine
b. feces
c. vomit
d. flatus
Continued…
3. drives can represent expressions of
love or hatred
4. drives seek not only tension reduction
but also relationship with objects
5. drives do not oppose external reality
as parental authority but rather each
other as manifested in good and bad
objects
C. Psychosexual stages replaced by
positions
1. bodily sources of tension de-emphasized
in favor organizations of relating to
object (i.e., part or whole)
2. qualities of psychosexual stages
determined by the two positions
(i.e., paranoid-schizoid and
depressive)
Continued…
3. Oedipus complex is not a struggle
between wishes for opposite-sex parents
and fears of castration by same-sex
parent but rather a struggle between
wishes for opposite-sex parent and
“feelings of love and guilt to preserve his
father as an internal and external figure”
(Klein, 1945, p. 389)
D. Role of envy in object relations
and psychopathology
1. envy is contrasted to greed
a. greed is the collateral destruction of the
good object because of insatiable desire
b. envy is the willful destruction of the
good object because of resentment and
spite over withholding of life-giving
supplies (e.g., spoiling milk)
Continued…
2. envy destroys the good object and so
overwhelms splitting processes
a. confusion between good and bad
b. destruction of hope
3. negative therapeutic reaction--worsening in
treatment
a. Freud-- guilt over Oedipal victory
b. Klein-- desire to triumph over good,
withholding object
Continued…
4. envious patients “spoil”
interpretations to disable their sense
of the therapist’s goodness,
competence, and desire to help
(mention Cornell patient who slit her
throat)
III. Followers of Melanie Klein
A. Wilfred Bion
1. focused more on caregiver
contributions to shift from paranoidschizoid to depressive positions
a. container of split-off “beta elements”
b. caregiver applies “alpha function” -metabolizes these projective
identifications and returns them in
understandable form that aids in
integration and affect regulation
Continued…
2. projective identification is not simply a
maneuver to extend and control unbearable
parts of the self but also a primitive form of
communication with caregiver
3. predominance of paranoid-schizoid position
a. deficiencies in caregiver’s capacity for
reverie (related to alpha function) or
primary maternal preoccupation (Winnicott)
b. overwhelming envy in the infant
B. Herbert Rosenfeld--narcissistic
conditions
1. key features of narcissism
a. predominance of envy
b. predominance of dependence
c. omnipotent denial used as defense against
separateness and integrity of the object
1) denial of object’s control over goodness
2) denial of vulnerability to separation from
good object
Continued…
2. two forms of narcissism
a. thin-skinned (libidinal) narcissism
(see Kohut’s idealizing transference)
1) idealization of self
2) omnipotent introjection and/or projective
identification of good object
Continued…
b. thick-skinned (destructive) narcissism
(see Kohut’s mirroring transference)
1. idealization of omnipotent destructive
parts of self that tolerates no
dependency
2. derogation of any suggestion of true
affection
C. Elizabeth Spillius--borderline
conditions
1. dominance of bad self over the rest
of the personality, including
masochistic, perverse, addictive parts
2. structured pattern of defenses and
impulses rooted somewhere between
paranoid-schizoid and depressive
positions
IV. Criticisms of Melanie Klein’s Work
A. Objects exist in the form of constitutional,
universal knowledge and images
B. De-emphasis on parental behavior,
particularly negative behavior
C. The centrality of fantasies in mental life,
which does not account for development of
structures or patterns
D. Adherence to the death instinct as
philosophical proposition applied to clinical
cases
Continued…
E. Elaborate cognitive capacities of infant
from birth
F. Origin of the differentiation between the
ego and superego
G. Marginalization of “real” mother robs her
of agency and subjectivity
H. Innate object categories such as “penis”
and ”breast” and “vagina” reinforce idea
of anatomy is destiny and make gender
configurations less fluid and more binary
Continued…
I.
Integration of objects not possible in
Klein’s developmental timetable
1.
2.
3.
4.
consciousness of conflicting feelings towards
same person?
unconscious integration of images?
recognition that same person can generate
conflicting feelings?
difficulties recognizing mixed emotions younger
than age 5 but ability to represent same person
as sometimes angry and sometimes loving from
first year of life