title: Orphans of the 'Real': II. The future of object relations theory in the treatment of the psychoses and other primitive mental disorders.
abstract: Objective relations theory is a broad, multifaceted concept that covers a number of differing paradigms. The author highlights the historical development of this concept. Originally developed by Freud and Abraham, it gradually became a shibboleth that identified both the Kleinian and the Independent schools in Great Britain and the object relations school within the American school of ego psychology. The two British schools differed between each other and from the American school. Among these schools of thought, two major paradigms have emerged: (1) the one-person psychoanalytic model, and (2) the two-person model. More recently, derivatives of the two-person model have emerged as the schools of relationism, self psychology, and intersubjectivity. In addition, the contributions of the Lacanian school have altered concepts about the fundamental nature of object relations. What is consequently at issue in terms of the psychoanalytic conception and treatment of psychoses and primitive mental disorders (with patients suffering from being "orphans of the 'Real'") is (1) the differing conceptions of what is meant by internal objects, part-objects, selfobjects, and object-representations, and (2) the differing conceptions of unconscious mental life.
authors.affiliation: UCLA School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Grotstein
mesh_terms: D005619:Freudian Theory; D006801:Humans; D009769:Object Attachment; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011936:Reality Testing; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology