ABSTRACT
W. R. D. Fairbairn and M. Klein differed markedly on the origins of the good object. Briefly, a good object for Klein is a part object originally rooted in the innate life instinct. Present at birth it is first projected onto the mother and later introjected along with the mother's gratifying attributes. The good object becomes a whole, integrated object if the mother loves and provides for the child's needs. Fairbairn never fully described a good object. He referred to it alternatively as the accepted object and ideal object. Fairbairn pronounced that psychic structure and psychic energy were equivalent: "Both structure divorced from energy and energy divorced from structure are meaningless concepts". Mental health, for Fairbairn, was virtually ensured with parental love; pathology arose from its disruption or absence. He placed a need for love at the very centre of the child's psychic inheritance at birth.
