The object relation model or theory is a method of increasing psyche in relation to others in the surroundings through infancy. It is suggested by the theory that the relationship of a person in adulthood is shaped by family experiences of an individual when they were kids. For instance, where a child grows up in an abusive relationship, an encounter with an abusive person triggers the person to remember the abuse they underwent when they were small. During infancy, the child develops images of what happening and these events turn into an object in the unconscious mind of the person that persist even in the adulthood. These objects are essential in predicting the behaviors of people and how they interact with others. This paper is a critical examination and evaluation of the fundamental and practical application of the object relations model.
The Fundamental Principles of Object Relations Model
The object relations theories emphasize interpersonal relationships, especially among mother and infant. By object, it means a person who influences the feelings and intentions of another individual. By relations, it means interpersonal relations and it gives a connotation of previous relationships affecting the person in the present. The object model is concerned with the inner image of the self and its manifestation in interpersonal situations. The theory suggests that a person is motivated by the need for contact with others. A psychologist is concerned with helping a person to uncover early mental images that might be causing the present difficulties in the relationship of a person with others and how to improve the interpersonal functioning. A child relates with the immediate family members like father, mother and the caregiver, in the object model, the term object may be used to refer to a part of the whole body of a person.
Mother-child relation is important in personality development of the child; this is because infant form mental representation of themselves from others and the images formed influences the interpersonal relationships of the kid as they grow. It is worth noting that when speaking about an object, it means an object as seen by the self and the self in relation to the object, it also means the relationship between self and object. A reference to the object takes a form of direct reference, for example, the child consider what the mother does for him, for instance, feeding, beating or spanking. Out of these acts, the child is able to relate the object with the real life, emotions or feeling. For instance, a child would consider a parent who feeds him to be a good parent while the parent that beat him might be a bad parent. The kid is also in a position to learn not to do bad things that would provoke the parent thus attracting a beating as a form of punishment.
The object which is first in someone is usually an image which is an internalized of one's mother. The inner substance is recognized by the outline in one's occurrence of the person taken care like an infant, which may or may not exist a precise presentation of the real and outer caretakers. The substance is normally internalized pictures of one's father, nurse or main caretaker, though they can as well contain parts of the individual such as the childhood connecting to the breast or effects in one's internal earth. Afterward, the experience can reform these untimely patterns, but objects frequently persist to apply the well-built effect all through the time of living. Objects are originally comprehended in the mind of the child by their functions and are entitled as part objects. The breast that feeds the infant who is hungry is the good breast. While the infant who is hungry and finds no breast this happening is in relation to the bad breast. With the good enough, promoting the surrounding, part object purposes finally modify into a comprehension of whole objects.
The notion of splitting is an important aspect of the object-relational model because it shapes the behavior of a person. The internal objects formation takes place during infancy where the child adopts what has been repeated, although the image may not reflect the reality, the child develops a view of what is expected in a given circumstance. An infant is able to learn the good and bad and separate due to the mental separation of objects. The splitting relation provokes the infant to react by accepting the object or rejecting it, and this takes place mostly when then the child is with the primary caregiver. Satisfaction of the needs of the kid provokes the view that the caregiver is good, however, if their needs are not resolved satisfactorily, the child view caregiver as bad or as good depending on the object of the kid. Merging of the object of the mother in the child starts taking place where the child integrates the behaviors as a whole into his system. The model has been transformed with time by modeling it against that of Freud.
The founder of the object model or theory is Klein who was working with young kid and infants where she reached a conclusion that these minors focused more on building relationships with the caregivers but not controlling their sexual urges (Klein, 2018). The notion of object theory received support from Fairbairn who asserted that humans are object-seeking being and not pleasure-seeking beings. In reaching this conclusion, Fairbairn considered gradual development of a person from a toddler where the infantile depend on the caregiver before transitioning to independence but still maintain interdependence. Fairbairn established six ego positions, the first one being the whole ego that relates to the good object, he opined that the whole ego is the healthy inner of the child. This is the part that a psychologist targets for growth and expansion. The other one is antilibidinal ego relating to the bad object, in this part of the ego, a child gets angry or hopeless; in this case, the kid rejects the parent and views her as a bad object because she is neglecting her or is judgmental.
A therapist dealing with a kid with this kind of ego would be akin to speaking to a homeless kid. The other type of ego is the libidinal ego that relates to the exciting object, this is an ego that is experienced by a child who is gullible and full of hope in relation to the promising inner parent. The child relies on the caregiver in most of the things, including relation how to interact with others. On the other hand, it was the contention of Winnicott that the object relations theory stresses the need to raise a child in an environment that encourages the development of a sense of interdependence but know that their caregiver is there to protect them in case of danger (Leiman, 1992). In essence, it means that the model indicates that the relationship between the child and the caregiver is based on trust where the child has to learn to what the adult is doing and imitate it.
Application
The object relations theory is applied by psychologists to help individuals identify and address deficits in their functions. It also helps these individuals to address their weaknesses so as to experience a more authentic experience. Integration of good and bad aspects of an internal object is possible where a therapist helps the individual to be able to see others more realistically. If a person is suffering from serious internal conflict, a therapist can help the person to experience to relate with others effectively. The object relations models are applicable to the children and adult who are experiencing traumas or problem as a result of the abusive relationship. When a child grows up in an abusive family that is prone to domestic violence, the child would still carry those images with him as he grows up. The psychoanalytic perspectives of the object relations theory in relation to real self is taken to mean the sum of self and object representation with related effects.
Real self portrays conscious reality component that helps in removing unconscious or fantasy elements and provides self-activation and self-esteem of a person. In essence, it means that when a person appreciates the real self, they are in a position to deal with their self-esteem and self-expression because their egos are not hurt. The object relations theory is evident in the discussion of the etiology and cure of a consumption disorder; this is because the corpse and self are rooted in infancy. Its application in dealing with an eating disorder requires a person to differentiate his body and control it. This can be achieved by linking what the person learned from the mother in terms of healthy feeding because body development typically starts in infancy.
Most of the procedures which are employed in object relations psychotherapy are the same as to that administered in treating people with psychoanalytic and other psychodynamic therapies. However, the major difference is in the psychologist manner of reasoning on what-what is occurring in the therapeutic exchange. For example in traditional therapy, transference contributes to being sensibly evaluated, as it is impressed to produce valued details concerning the individual in psychotherapy. The object relations psychologist is not normally viewing change responses as proof of an individual in an insentient conflict of therapy instead they are taken as indicators of the childlike article relation as well as protection that is capable of being examined to be the source of the difficulties of a person. Initially, the psychologist actually tries to comprehend, through being a compassionate listener and approval, horror, history of the family, and desires of the individual in psychotherapy (Klein, 2018a). After establishing mutual belief has been grown, the psychologist can help the person with treatment into parts that are very delicate, by the advance motivation of superior self-awareness and thoughtfulness.
In the education sector psychologists in all parts of the discipline subscribe to the understanding of teaching, studying and education in relation to object relation. They learn the ages at which youngster become able of attaining different cognitive skills, the outcome of rewards on their incentive to study, computerized instructions, studying disabilities, and other topics which are relevant. In addition to the present of psychology, there are two areas within psychology focusing entirely on education. These parts are the educational psychology and school psychology. In educational psychology, the teachers are seeking to understand and improve the meaning and studying product around the classroom and other settings of education with respect to the needs of the student. In school, psychologists are working in elementary classes and in the system of secondary schools by administering tests, making the placement of advice, and guiding children with educational or emotional issues.
Conclusion
Object relations model is ideal for accessing the development of the child because what the child learn at infancy affects the way they interact with other in future. A child develops a positive or the ‘good mom’ or the negative ‘bad mom’ perspective depending on their interaction. In the model, object is used to denote a person, especially the caregiver of the kid. Most of the things that a person does in adulthood including relationship highly depend with how the kid related with the care giver. Through repetition exercises with good enough parenting, the image which is internal that the baby has of external others, that is the baby internal object, is changed by the experience and the transform of the image, incorporating experiences of bad and good which is becoming the same to the object which is real. For example, the mother who can be bad and at the same time be good. Klein is arguing that people who are not succeeding in working through the position of depressive in their age of the baby will as the result, continues to struggle with the issue in the life of the adult. For instance, the cause that the individual is maintaining suffering from intense guilt feelings over the death of the loved one can be found in the unrefined-through depressive position. The guilt is appearing because of the absence of differentiation among fantasy and reality.
References
Klein, M. (2018). Some Theoretical Conclusions Regarding the Emotional Life of the Infant 1. In Developments in psychoanalysis (pp. 198-236). Routledge.
Klein, M. (2018a). On the Theory of Anxiety and Guilt 1. In Developments in psychoanalysis (pp. 271-291). Routledge.
Leiman, M. (1992). The concept of sign in the work of Vygotsky, Winnicott and Bakhtin: Further integration of object relations theory and activity theory. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 65(3), 209-221.
