ABSTRACT
Fairbairn contributed an important modification to Klein’s original conceptualization of the paranoid-schizoid position. Rather than consisting simply of “internal objects,” the psyche in the paranoid-schizoid position consists of “internal object relationships.” These are not of the voices of internalized objects, but of the internal dialogs between the self and significant objects. Kernberg coined the term “Object Relation Units” (ORUs) to described paired substructures of the psyche representing the internal object, the self in relation to that object, and the characteristic affect that defines that particular relationship. Ogden argues that internal objects are not simply representations of unfinished business from the past. They constitute structures of the psyche; they constitute who a person is. Either component (self or object) can be projected out onto others. This makes the analysis of the transference much more immediately important, and much more complex, than in the traditional Freudian paradigm.
