THEORY OF

OBJECT RELATION
Subhrajyoti Barik
Msc.(N) 1st year
College of Nursing
AIIMS,BBSR
INTRODUCTION
CONT…
An aspect of the evolution of Freudian psychoanalytic
theory, object relations theory developed during the
late 1920s and 1930s and became important in shaping
psychoanalytic theory during the 1970s. Karl Abraham,
Margaret Mahler, and Melanie Klein are among those
credited with its origination and refinement.
Continue…
Margaret Mahler (Mahler Pine & Bergman,1975)
formulated a theory that describes the separation
individuation process of the infant from the maternal
figure (primary caregiver).
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Margaret Mahler was
born in Hungary on May 10,
1897.
She became interested in
psychoanalysis as a teen
when she met Sandor
Ferenczi.
Cont…
She studied medicine at the University of Budapest
beginning in 1917, before transferring to the University
of Jena in Germany to study pediatrics. She graduated
in 1922 and settled in Vienna, Austria.
 She began training in psychoanalysis in 1926.
After several years of working with children, Mahler
was certified as an analyst in 1933.
Cont…
Mahler spent most of her career working with
psychologically impaired children.
She was among the first psychologists to specialize in the
treatment of psychotic children.
Her work in this area led to the book The Psychological
Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation.
In addition, she co-founded the Masters Children’s Centre
in New York with her colleague Manuel Furer.
It was from here that Mahler created and taught the
Tripartite Treatment Model, a therapeutic approach
involving both the child and mother.
External Objects
An external object is an actual
person or thing that someone
invests in with emotional energy.
A whole object is a person as she
actually exists, with all of the
positive and negative traits that
she embodies. If we successfully
move through the stages of
development, we are able to
relate to others more as a whole
and as they truly are.
Internal Objects
An internal object is our psychological and emotional
impression of a person. It is the representation that we
hold onto when the person is not physically there, and
it influences how we view the person in real life.
Consequently, the internal object greatly impacts our
relationship with the person that it represents.
OBJECT CONSTANCY
Cont…
Object constancy is the ability to recognize that
objects do not change simply because we do not see
them. Infants begin to learn object constancy when
their parents leave for a short time and then return. As
children mature, they begin to spend longer periods of
time away from their parents.
OBJECT CONSTANCY
Cont…
Separation anxiety and fear of abandonment are
common in people who have not successfully
developed a sense of object constancy.
Cont…
Mahler proposed that early in development the child
does not have a concept of object constancy for the
mother, which means when the mother disappears,
she ceases to exist. This concept is similar to Jean
Piaget's theory of object permanence.
Classification:
Margaret Mahler describes this process as progressing
through three major phases, and she further
delineates phase III, the separation-individuation
phase, into four sub-phases.
Phase I:
The Autistic Phase (Birth to 1 Month)
In the autistic phase, also called normal autism, the
infant exists in a half-sleeping, half-waking state and
does not perceive the existence of other people or an
external environment.
The fulfillment of basic needs for survival and comfort
is the focus and is merely accepted as it occurs.
Phase II:
The Symbiotic Phase (1 to 5
Months)
Symbiosis is a type of “psychic fusion” of mother and
child.
The child views the self as an extension of the mother,
but with a developing awareness that it is she who
fulfills the child’s every need.
Mahler suggested that absence of, or rejection by, the
maternal figure at this phase can lead to symbiotic
psychosis.
Phase III:
Separation-Individuation (5 to 36
Months
This third phase represents what Mahler calls the
“psychological birth” of the child.
Separation is defined as the physical and
psychological attainment of a sense of personal
distinction from the mothering figure, individuation
occurs with a strengthening of the ego and an
acceptance of a sense of “self” with independent ego
boundaries.
Cont…
4 sub-phases through which the child evolves in his
or her progression from a symbolic extension of the
mothering figure to a distinct and separate being are
described:
Sub-phase 1:
Differentiation (5 to 10 Months)
The differentiation phase begins with the child’s initial
physical movements away from the mothering figure.
A primary recognition of separateness commences.
Sub-phase 2:
Practicing (10 to 16 Months)
With advanced locomotors functioning, the child
experiences feelings of exhilaration from increased
independence. He or she is now able to move away
from, and return to, the mothering figure.
A sense of omnipotence is manifested.
Sub-phase 3:
Rapprochement (16 to 24 Months)

This third sub-phase, rapprochement, is extremely

critical to the child’s health ego development.
Cont…
During this time, the child becomes increasingly
aware of his or her separateness from the mothering
figure, while the sense of fearlessness and
omnipotence diminishes.
The child, now recognizing the mother as a separate
individual, wishes to re-establish closeness with her
but shuns the total re-engulfment of the symbiotic
stage.
Cont…
The need is for the mothering figure to be available to
provide “emotional refueling” on demand.

Critical to this sub-phase is the mothering figure’s

response to the child. If the mothering figure is
available to fulfill emotional needs as they arise, the
child develops a sense of security in the knowledge
that he or she is loved and will not be abandoned.
Cont…
However, if emotional needs are inconsistently met or
if the mother rewards clinging, dependent behaviors
and withholds nurturing when the child demonstrates
independence, feelings of rage and a fear of
abandonment develop and often persist into
adulthood.
This stage is essential to the development of a stable
sense of self. This includes three sub- stages:

1. Beginning: The child returns to the caretaker in

order to share experiences and excitement. There is
an overarching felon of omnipotence and
exuberance.
Cont…
2. Crisis: The child recognizes his/her limitations versus
the desire to be all powerful and self-sufficient. The child
is torn in choosing between physical and emotional
proximity to the caretaker or independence. This stage is
characterized by temper tantrums and helplessness and
thus the need for emotional availability of the mother
increases.
Cont…
3. Solution: The child reaches a healthy medium
between the two extremes due to language and superego
development. If the crisis is not resolved well, there will
be an increase in extreme clinging or shunning behavior.
Sub-phase 4: Consolidation (24 to 36
Months)
With achievement of the consolidation sub-phase, a
definite individual and sense of separateness of self are
established. Objects are represented as whole, with
the child having the ability to integrate both “good”
and “bad.”
A degree of object constancy is established as the child
is able to internalize a sustained image if the
mothering figures as enduring and loving, while
maintaining the perception of her as a separate person
in the outside world.
Relevance of Object Relations
Theory to Nursing Practice
Understanding of the concepts of Mahler’s theory of
object relations helps the nurses assess the client’s
level of individuation from primary caregivers.
The emotional problems of many individuals can be
traced to lack of fulfillment of the tasks of separation/
individuation.
Examples include problems related to dependency
and excessive anxiety”.
Cont…
The individual with borderline personality disorders is
thought to be fixed in the rapprochement phase of
development, harboring fears of abandonment and
underlying rage.
This knowledge is important in the provision of
nursing care these individuals.
CONCLUSION:
Mahler describes a series of stages occurring within
the first three years of life aimed at the developmental
goal of separation and individuation. Understanding
this will help the nurses to identify the needs of the
child, his developmental stages and phases of
development and implement this knowledge in their
clinical practices in the formulation of individualized
care to the patient.
ARTICLE:
From object-relations theory to the theory of
alterity: shame as an intermediary between the
interpersonal world and the inner world of
psychic structure
PMID: 9327103 
DOI: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1997.51.3.343
Abstract
Proceeding from a critical discussion of positions adopted in
object-relations theory and of recent approaches to the
understanding of shame (exemplified with reference to
Wurmser's concept of shame), the paper demonstrates that intra-
psychic structures should not be regarded as preconditions for
shame but as themselves evolving in the first place from contact
with experiential forms of the shame affect. The paper takes its
theoretical bearings from object-relations theory and the theory
of psychic structure, expanding the purview of these approaches
by incorporating the reciprocity aspect and thus outlining a
comprehensive "alterity theory." "Shame" is presented as an
"interface affect," manifesting itself initially in the external
interactional dimension and constituting the relational structure
of "self-consciousness" via the internalization of the reciprocal
relation between subject and object.
Cont…
From the angle of developmental psychology, three characteristic forms of such
stages of internalization (identified by mythological figures) are described. (1)
Narcissus, characterized by the absence of any reciprocal relation and accordingly
termed "un-reflected," (2) Tiresias, with a capacity for taking up the position of the
vis-à-vis temporarily and looking critically at one's own self from that perspective,
yet lacking the faculty of self-objectification without the help of the vis-à-vis. Self-
objectification is therefore taking place in the interactional dimension. This stage is
thus designated as "externally reflected." (3) Oedipus, who has reached the stage to
be termed "self-reflected" or "self-referential." The gaze is directed initially toward
the outside in search of external sources of guilt but then falls back upon the
subject itself. The gaze "turns inward" (to use an experientially suggestive image)
and in the mythology this is represented by Oedipus' self-blinding. The subject is
capable of "critical," dissociating functions, in the sense of self-objectification, thus
attaining to a capacity for self-recognition, self-criticism and self-judgment. These
three stages are seen to be progressive, not mutually exclusive. Self-preferentiality
in the broadest sense is regarded as being hierarchically stratified.
REFERENCE:
Townsend MC, Morgan KI. Psychiatric mental health
nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice.
F A Davis; 2017 Oct. Page 41,42
Seidler GH. From object-relations theory to the theory
of alterity: shame as an intermediary between the
interpersonal world and the inner world of psychic
structure. American journal of psychotherapy. 1997
Jul;51(3):343-56.