ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses an area of theory that is among the most exciting and promising contributions by the newer ego psychology to the authors' work with people, it is called, in a general way, the theory of object relations. By object relations the authors refer to the way in which their patient relates himself with the other humans who have more than passing meaning in his life. The term object relations has continued to be employed in a way that means nothing more precise than did the notion Significant Other in the psychology of George Herbert Mead or Harry Stack Sullivan. The chapter presents some ideas taken largely from the work of Fairbairn, a Scottish analyst, whose writings have been extremely important for many workers involved in direct treatment of severely regressed, hospitalized persons. Certainly it is true that separation anxiety plays a powerful role in object relations.
