Fairbairn’s Object Relations Theory in the Clinical Setting

David P. Celani

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English

Columbia University Press
07 April 2010

Social work; Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology); Child & developmental psychology; Clinical psychology

"W. R. D. Fairbairn (1889-1964) challenged the dominance of Freud's drive theory with a psychoanalytic theory based on the internalization of human relationships. Fairbairn assumed that the unconscious develops in childhood and contains dissociated memories of parental neglect, insensitivity, and outright abuse that are impossible the children to tolerate consciously. In Fairbairn's model, these dissociated memories protect developing children from recognizing how badly they are being treated and allow them to remain attached even to physically abusive parents.

Attachment is paramount in Fairbairn's model, as he recognized that children are absolutely and unconditionally dependent on their parents. Kidnapped children who remain attached to their abusive captors despite opportunities to escape illustrate this intense dependency, even into adolescence. At the heart of Fairbairn's model is a structural theory that organizes actual relational events into three self-and-object pairs: one conscious pair (the central ego, which relates exclusively to the ideal object in the external world) and two mostly unconscious pairs (the child's antilibidinal ego, which relates exclusively to the rejecting parts of the object, and the child's libidinal ego, which relates exclusively to the exciting parts of the object). The two dissociated self-and-object pairs remain in the unconscious but can emerge and suddenly take over the individual's central ego. When they emerge, the ""other"" is misperceived as either an exciting or a rejecting object, thus turning these internal structures into a source of transferences and reenactments. Fairbairn's central defense mechanism, splitting, is the fast shift from central ego dominance to either the libidinal ego or the antilibidinal ego-a near perfect model of the borderline personality disorder.

In this book, David Celani reviews Fairbairn's five foundational papers and outlines their application in the clinical setting. He discusses the four unconscious structures and offers the clinician concrete suggestions on how to recognize and respond to them effectively in the heat of the clinical interview. Incorporating decades of experience into his analysis, Celani emphasizes the internalization of the therapist as a new ""good"" object and devotes entire sections to the treatment of histrionic, obsessive, and borderline personality disorders."

By: David P. Celani
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 329g
ISBN: 9780231149075
ISBN 10: 0231149077
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 07 April 2010
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. Fairbairn's Intellectual Development and a Review of His Early Papers 2. Fairbairn's Structural Model and His Radical Approach to Psychoanalytic Treatment 3. The Dynamic Relationships Between the Pathological Ego Structures 4. A Fairbairnian Approach to the Therapeutic Relationship 5. Working with the Borderline Patient and the Battered Woman 6. A Structural Analysis of Obsessional and Histrionic Disorders 7. The Legacy of Fairbairn's Contribution to Psychoanalysis References Index

"David P. Celani is a licensed psychologist who practiced for more than twenty-five years in Burlington, Vermont. In treatment, he focused on his patients' ""attachment to bad objects,"" which was manifested by their inability to separate from parents, friends, or marital partners who demeaned, criticized, or abused them. Celani now presents workshops throughout the United States on object relations theory. His books with Columbia University Press include The Illusion of Love: Why the Battered Woman Returns to Her Abuser and Leaving Home: The Art of Separating from Your Difficult Family."