ABSTRACT

In this chapter, I present the object relations theory of the paranoid–schizoid and depressive positions and discuss the couple interactions within these two positions. I summarise Klein’s (1975c,f,g[1940, 1946, 1957]) and some post-Kleinian ideas 1 about the two basic positions, or states of mind—the paranoid–schizoid and depressive positions—and present concepts that are, in my view, most relevant to the topic of this chapter. The paranoid–schizoid and depressive positions are characterised by different anxieties and defences that most, and perhaps all, individuals and couples alike, experience to some extent and at some points in their lives. I found that Proust’s (2002[1919]) metaphors imaginatively capture and bring to life, so to speak, the fantastical aspects and complexity of emotional life described by Klein, and resonate with the dynamics in these two positions, and I discuss a few segments from In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2). Finally, I consider the fused, warring, differentiated, benign, creative, and generous couple relations within these different positions.