ABSTRACT
In this chapter the revolutionary reformulation of psychoanalytic theory is depicted in detail. It begins with Fairbairn’s most fundamental concepts: there is no experience without structure and libido is object seeking rather than pleasure seeking. Fairbairn’s view that psychic structure is a product of internalized object relationships is drawn out showing his concept of mental structure as composed wholly of internalized object relationships. Fairbairn’s theory of psychopathology is that all symptoms and psychic dysfunction are a result of unsatisfactory object relationships. Psychic structure is derived from “bad objects” that are internalized in the form of “egos.” All internalized objects have ego structure and psychic conflict takes place between these internalized ego structures. Harry Guntrip’s use of Fairbairn’s ideas to build a theory of the regressed ego and regressive psychotherapy is discussed. Guntrip used Fairbairn’s ideas to understand various types of pathology as schizoid. The influence of Fairbairn’s ideas on many analysts to understand dynamics such as the “lure of the unavailable object” and attachment to “bad objects” is discussed. The influence of Fairbairn’s ideas across the globe is shown in the spread of object relations theory worldwide in contemporary psychoanalysis.
