Object relations reconsidered

This chapter presents various listening perspectives regarding intrapsychic organization and development, especially 1) Reich’s character analysis (which provides that symptoms are defenses and serve an intrapsychic function); 2) Hilton’s illustration of internalized prohibitions integrated in psychic and somatic armor as an “ego compromise;” and 3) Kernberg’s definition of an object relationship. Kernberg’s terminology is renamed as Self, Affect, and Other (S-A-O), the intrapsychic structural organization (SAO) in an object relations unit (ORU).

Hilton’s diagram is modified, emphasizing the relational and accommodative foundations of character structure. Kernberg’s definition is modified to illustrate the attachment contingencies of ORU connections and disconnections. The organizing Self (S_org) is most significant among the Self components. Affect components include drives, emotions, and their physiological counterparts, all existing along a spectrum of intensity.

The cohesion of self is preserved by attacking links between Self, Affect, and Other via denial, which includes splitting and repression. The body is addressed as a repository of experience concerning attacks on linking.

SAO/TEND merges the conflict and deficit models, offered as a listening perspective, focusing on 1) S-A-O structure of object relationships; 2) trauma-engineered foundations of splits; and 3) psychotherapeutic inquiry concerning the interplay of thoughts, feelings, and actions. Case illustrations are presented.