The British Object Relations School: W. R. D. Fairbairn & D. W. Winnicott | Ch 5 - Freud & Beyond скачать в хорошем качестве

The British Object Relations School: W. R. D. Fairbairn & D. W. Winnicott | Ch 5 - Freud & Beyond

Chapter 5 of Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought by Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black explores the British Object Relations School, focusing on the groundbreaking contributions of W. R. D. Fairbairn and D. W. Winnicott, alongside related figures such as Michael Balint, John Bowlby, and Harry Guntrip. This chapter traces how object relations theory transformed psychoanalysis by shifting the emphasis from Freud’s drive-centered model to a relational paradigm in which the human infant is fundamentally object-seeking rather than pleasure-seeking. Fairbairn challenged Freud’s pleasure principle by arguing that libido is adhesive and inherently object-seeking. His clinical work with abused and neglected children revealed that attachment persists even in painful or abusive relationships, demonstrating that people often bond through suffering when love is unavailable. Fairbairn reconceptualized repression not as the burial of forbidden impulses, but as the splitting off of relationships with unresponsive or rejecting parents, which then live on as internal objects. He introduced the concepts of the libidinal ego, bound to the exciting but unavailable object, and the anti-libidinal ego, allied with rejecting objects and hostile toward longing. Clinical examples, such as Jane’s battle between her hopeful self and her punitive “warden,” illustrate how these internal object ties shape neurosis and reinforce repetitive cycles of pain. For Fairbairn, therapeutic change arises not from insight alone but from experiencing the analyst as a new, reliable relational object capable of reshaping these deep structures. Winnicott, a pediatrician-psychoanalyst, expanded object relations theory by emphasizing early maternal care and the formation of selfhood. His concept of the false self disorder described individuals who function outwardly but feel unreal or hollow within, the result of adapting too early to impinging environments rather than being supported in spontaneous subjectivity. Winnicott’s famous idea of the “good-enough mother” and the holding environment stressed the importance of maternal responsiveness in fostering the infant’s capacity to “go on being.” Through concepts like primary maternal preoccupation, subjective omnipotence, and transitional objects, Winnicott showed how creativity, play, and cultural experience emerge from the transitional space between inner fantasy and external reality. His notion of object usage, where the infant survives the destruction of the object and discovers its enduring presence, reframed aggression as a constructive developmental force. The chapter also highlights the contributions of Michael Balint, who expanded Ferenczi’s ideas and introduced the concept of the basic fault, an early rupture in maternal love that leaves a lasting deficit the analytic situation seeks to repair. John Bowlby drew from ethology and biology to establish attachment theory, showing that bonding with the mother is an instinctual survival mechanism, not merely a derivative of need-gratification. His empirical studies of separation and mourning reshaped psychoanalysis and influenced developmental psychology, psychiatry, and public policy. Finally, Harry Guntrip integrated Fairbairn and Winnicott’s ideas, introducing the concept of the regressed ego, representing the self in flight from frustrating objects or suspended due to environmental failure. Together, Fairbairn, Winnicott, Balint, Bowlby, and Guntrip built a vision of human development rooted in the primacy of relationships, the fragility of selfhood, and the reparative potential of analysis. By shifting focus from drives to objects, from instinctual gratification to relational meaning, the British Object Relations School redefined psychoanalysis and laid the groundwork for modern relational and attachment-based theories. 📘 Read full blog summaries for every chapter: https://lastminutelecture.com 📘 Have a book recommendation? Submit your suggestion here: https://forms.gle/y7vQQ6WHoNgKeJmh8 Thank you for being a part of our little Last Minute Lecture family! Freud and Beyond Chapter 5 summary, British Object Relations School explained, W. R. D. Fairbairn object relations theory, Fairbairn libidinal ego anti-libidinal ego, repression and internal objects Fairbairn, D. W. Winnicott good-enough mother, false self disorder psychoanalysis, holding environment Winnicott, transitional object theory explained, subjective omnipotence and creativity, Winnicott object usage aggression, Michael Balint basic fault benign regression, John Bowlby attachment theory summary, Bowlby separation and mourning, Harry Guntrip regressed ego and inner child, British psychoanalysis independent group, relational psychoanalysis origins, psychoanalysis of abuse and neglect, developmental psychoanalysis UK tradition