Object Relations Theory Essay

This essay will be looking at the importance of relational depth and further more I will attempt to demonstrate my growing awareness of my relationship with my clients and how it has impacted on my client work.

Psychoanalyst, John Bowlby in the mid 19th hundreds, investigated attachment theory. Over the years, we have enhanced our understanding on how children attach to their primary caregiver earlier in life. Supported by attachment theory, infants have a window for the development of attachment to the primary caregiver, which, usually happens during the first months of life (Hardy, 2007). Given that Alexander’s parents’ left when he was only 3 months and was raised by his grandparents, it is no surprise that when he reunited with his parents, they felt like complete strangers to him, because they were not the ones meeting his needs early in life.

Amid this stage, the baby is questionable about the world in which they live. To determine these sentiments of vulnerability, the newborn child looks towards their essential parental figure for strength and consistency of care.

An object relation involves three different aspects: the way the object is perceived by the person, the person in relation to the object, and the relationship between the object and the person. An example of this would be if a baby thought: my father is good because he comforts me when I cry (this is the way the object is perceived), since he comforts me when I cry it probably means I am good too (the view of the person based on the relationship), and I love my father (the way the infant sees the relationship). When these object relations are formed in a healthy way, they continue to develop over time but, when they are unhealthily formed, they stagnate and remain immature (Object Relations,

It has been shown that the relationships infants develop early on in life have lasting effects on their identity and behavior. Extensive research has indicated that the relationship between an infant and its caregivers is particularly important.

The following explores a 15 minute observation of mother and child. The observation includes the child’s developmental milestones, social and emotional behaviours, a relevant theory of development, signs of attachment displayed as per Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment as cited in Berk (2012), developing sense of self and empathy.

Amongst all psychodynamic approaches, object relations theory fitted like a puzzle for me. I have an integrated style with a mix of some humanistic and psychodynamic approaches like Freud’s free association or Jung’s dream analysis but Object Relations stand out for me. I relate to it at a deep personal level where my poor relationship with my mother affected my married life and in my client work a common thread that ran through was how faulty infantile object relations have an impact on adult relationships. Object relations theory follows a model that believes that children are driven by the need for attachment with primary caregivers especially the mother and it is paramount for the development of a ‘free functioning’ psychic structure.

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

Good mothering enables initial emotional development. Transitional objects enable the continuation of the emotional development by being the first instance of the initiation of a relationship between the toddler and the world (Wincott, 1953).

Bowlby (1969), who first applied this idea to the infant-caregiver bond, was inspired by Lorenz 's (1952) studies of imprinting in baby geese. He believed that the human baby, like the young of most animal species, is equipped with a set of built-in behaviors that helps keep the parent nearby, increasing the chances that the infant will be protected from danger. Contact with the parent also ensures that the baby will be fed, but Bowly was careful to point out that feeding is not the basis of attachment. According to Bowlby, the infant 's relationship to the parent begins as a set of innate signals that call the adult to the baby 's side. As time passes, a true affectionate bond develops, which is supported by new cognitive and emotional capacities as well as a history of consistent, sensitive, responsive care by the parent. Out of this experience, children form an enduring affectional bond with their caregivers that enables them to use this attachment figure as a secure base across time and distance. The inner representation of this parent-child bond becomes an important part

Early attachment of infants to their caregivers is important in that it establishes trust, security, resiliency and give infants reassurance that they will be cared for. Parents (or caregivers) are infants’ first teachers, and creating a strong, healthy attachment is an important aspect in a child’s intellectual and physical development. Most importantly, I believe that the bond between the infant and caregiver also serves as a foundation that guides an infant’s emotional and social development. In my opinion, the quality of the bond created will have an effect on the infant’s parenting skills once he or she becomes a parent. Children learn not only through observing behaviors and imitation, but they also absorb information through their experiences

Object Relations Theory has been used to conceptualize his current struggles. As he was growing up, Adam seemed to have his basic needs met but his parents seemed to lack in the area of developing his emotional well-being. His past internal experiences of objects have shaped and influenced how he views relationships in the present.

In terms of biological drives, Klein believed drives were aimed toward objects, such as an infant seeking milk from a mother’s breast. The object’s in an infant’s world, especially during the first few months of life are essentially good or bad. Thus, if the child receives milk, the breast is good, if not, it is bad. Klein posits that the objects within one’s world as an infant consist of gratification and hostility. In addition to drives, infants are focused on the internal object, which is more of a fantasy than an object based in reality, as the infant struggles to know the difference at this point in life. These fantasies are representations of bodily instincts and urges that the infant can feel physically and mentally. Thus in the case of the “bad breast”, the infant is frustrated and feels discomfort due to not receiving the milk, and this is interpreted by the infant as if he or she was being attacked by a hostile force. As the child develops, he or she begins to understand the good and bad breast are one in

This causes immense guilt for earlier persecutory feelings towards the object and the infant realizes that the mother cannot be blamed all the time and this explains the far away look children have sometimes in their eyes.

The caregiver plays an important role in these two crucial networks to develop normally. The early experiences of a child portray what humans are. If the child experiences healthy support and care from the caregiver in early life, the child’s brain would think of a human as safe, predictable, source of sustenance, comfort, and pleasure. On the other hand, if the child has negative and abusive experiences during early years, the child would think of humans as unpredictable and source of fear, chaos, pain, and loss. These templates of human are in the child’s mind throughout his/her life. Moreover, a child shares an attachment relationship with his/her mother. If the child lacks this care in the first three years of life, it leads to abnormal social-emotional