Object Relations Couple Therapy

Abstract

OVERVIEW OF BASIC THEORYObject relations theory has emerged as the psychoanalytic theory most applicable to a model of marital interaction and family dynamics.l-5 An individual psychology drawn from study of the relationship between patient and therapist, object relations theory holds that the motivating factor in growth and development of the human infant is the need to be in a relationship with a mothering person. According to Sutherland6 and D. S~h a r f f ,~ object relations theory is an amalgam of the work of British Independent group analysts Baht,8 Fairbairn? Guntrip,l0J1 and Winnicott, and of Klein and her follower^.^^,^^ Of them all, Fairbairn gave the most systematic challenge to Freudian instinct and structural theories.Fairbairn's18 schema of the endopsychic situation was picked up by Dicks19 who applied it to his work with spouses. The influence of Dicks's work on the psychoanalytic model of marital interaction was acknowledged by Bannister and Pincus, 2O Clulow,2l Pinc~s,2~ and Sk~nner,2~ all in Britain, and F r a r n~,~~ Martin?' MeissneqZ8 Nadels0n,2~ D. Scharff and

The Tango of Loving Hate: Couple Dynamics in High-Conflict Divorce

“…We believe that the treatment plan should focus on ownership and claiming of disowned anxiety-producing parts of the self that were projected onto the former partner, thereby enabling the couple to distinguish between unrealistic anxieties and realistic concerns, between internal and external reality. The therapeutic goals should include promoting self-differentiation, strengthening and broadening tolerance of a range of emotions, and helping the couple to discover alternate avenues for expression of negative emotions (i.e., affect regulation) (Chescheir 1995;Clulow and Mattinson 1995;Middelberg 2001;Scharff and Scharff 1997).…”

Social change, intercultural conflict, and marital dynamics in a chinese marriage in brief concurrent individual and couple therapy

“…Even the deeply repressed object relationships push towards consciousness to be reintegrated in the original ego. These attempts at re-integration take the form of pushing the person to fi nd current partners with whom to recreate relationships in the real world similar to those in the internal world (Dicks, 1967) partly with the hope of transforming them by learning from experience, and partly for the pleasure of re-experiencing the known and maintaining it (Scharff & Scharff, 1991).…”

Integrating attachment theory and neuroscience in couple therapy

“…Within the secure base of therapy, each partner may feel more balanced, thereby contributing to an enriched and attuned relationship which enhances neural plasticity and learning (Schore, 2003). Scharff and Scharff (1991) describe the therapeutic base in different terms. They see it as "a transitional space in which the couple can portray and reflect upon its current way of functioning, learn about and modify its projective identificatory system, and invent new ways of being" (1991: 108).…”