ABSTRACT
Object relations theory refers to a set of psychoanalytic developmental and structural concepts that place the infant's need to relate to those around him or her at the center of psychological motivation. Recent remarkable advances in infant research, attachment theory, developmental psychology, psychoanalysis, and neuroscience have underscored the crucial importance of the early caregiver who helps to establish the scaffolding that shapes the brain that becomes the mind. New findings in child research, the attachment literature, psychoanalysis and neuroscience, coupled with greater attention to attunement and cycles of "disruption and repair" in parent child as well as treatment relationships, can help the therapist sharpen clinical skills to be more effective with those in need. The term internalization refers to various way-stations, as it were, as the child moves toward greater psychic structure, including incorporation; introjections; and identification. With growing experiences in the give-and-take environment, the child's rudimentary ego skills gradually help give form to his or her character and personality.
