Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy by Alan Eppel

Author:Alan Eppel
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

5.2.2 Object Relations

The term object can lead to some confusion. Its use in psychodynamics comes from Freud and the German word “objekt”. In psychodynamics it does not refer to “a thing” but to a person. The use of this word can only be understood by reference to Freudian instinct theory. For Freud instincts had “aims”. The person towards whom the instinctual aim was directed or attracted to was termed “the object”. For example, the sexual instinct may be directed towards a specific person who is described as “the object of the instinct” [1]. Similarly the target of a person’s affection is termed a “love object”. To avoid perplexity, it may be time to replace the word “object” with “other person”.

Object relationship refers to an inner representation of interactions between two people: the self-representation and the object representation. An individual’s ways of interacting with others depend on multiple differing internalized self-object interactions.

Donald Winnicott stressed that the formation of a sense of self depended on the interaction between the child and the environment. In this respect Winnicott is the forerunner of Bowlby’s attachment theory. He theorised that the environment shapes the infant’s development. The mother or mother substitute is the principal component of the environment in the early years of development. The term “good-enough mother ” refers to the provision of sufficient caring, responsiveness and nurturance in order to ensure healthy development. This requires that the mother figure is responsive to differing needs that arise as the infant develops.

In the early stages of development, the infant is not aware of the boundary between himself and the external world. In Winnicott’s terms, the infant has not yet differentiated the “me” from the “not me”. In an adequately responsive environment, the infant develops a sense of himself. If the environment is not safe and the needs of the infant are not optimally met, this may lead to the development of “a false self ” . The false self masks the inner true self as a means of protection against a hostile or unloving environment. In adults a false self results in a lack of access to authentic inner emotions. The person is emotionally detached, “unreal” and unable to form meaningful relationships.

Transitional object is a term conceived by Winnicott to describe an area of experience between the inner mental world and the external world. This is an area where “me” and “not me” intersect. The words “transitional object” are universally recognized in describing a child’s choice of a blanket or a soft toy from which he is inseparable. This object represents the mother or mother figure and stands in for her when she is not available to comfort the child. Transitional space includes those mental experiences that contain a mixture of inner reality and the external world. Aspects of play and culture represent transitional phenomena. For example, a painting contains representations of external reality but also contains aspects of the artist’s own personality and inner reality.

One of the key functions of “good-enough mothering ” is to convey to the infant that he is seen and recognized.

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