ABSTRACT
In essence the term `internal object' means a mental and emotional image of an external object that has been taken inside the self. The character of the internal object is coloured by aspects of the self that have been projected into it. A complex interaction continues throughout life between the world of internalised ®gures and objects in the real world (which are obviously also in the mind) via repeated cycles of projection and introjection. The most important internal objects are those derived from the parents, in particular from the mother or breast into which the infant projects its loving (life instinct) or hating (death instinct) aspects. These objects, when taken into the self, are thought to be experienced by the infant concretely as physically present within the body, causing pleasure (good internal partobject breast) or pain (bad internal part-object breast) The infant's view of the motivation of these objects is based partly on accurate perception by the infant of the external object and partly on the desires and feelings that the infant has projected into the external objects: a malevolent desire to cause pain in the bad object and a benevolent desire to give pleasure in the good object.
