What Is Object Relations Theory?

Object-relations theory The theory of British orthodox psychoanalysis about children's self-structuring process. Klein pioneered the British psychoanalyst in the 1950s. Both self-psychology and American psychoanalysis stem from Freud's understanding of self-concept. Freud's early theory repeatedly discussed the dual task of the ego having both external and internal object relationships, that is, the ego can be regarded as both an external adaptive function and an internal integration force of personality. The exploration of the former forms a psychoanalytic self-psychology. Klein, Fairborn, Winnipeg and J. D. Psychoanalysts such as Sutherland used the latter to reveal the picture of children's mental structure and formed the doctrine. Object usually refers to the person involved in the individual, and object relationship is interpersonal relationship. The individual interacts not only with a real other person, but also with an inner person. This theory mainly studies the early parent-child relationship and its impact on children's internal world and later adult relationships, emphasizing the early psychological structure, that is, the inner appearance of oneself, others, or objects, in the later interpersonal contexts. ^[1]