Object Relations Theory: the schizoid condition

It is the Fairbairn/Guntrip object relations theory which is referred to throughout on this site. It is this theory which made sense for me of my fragmented schizoid psyche and which became the basis of all my work with clients.

My aim in researching the use of this theory in association with a Jungian/Humanistic style of working with dreams and images was to find an effective way of helping schizoid clients to heal their inner splits. The aim of my unconscious, or as I now call it my hominin psyche, was to ensure my psychological survival by making complete sense of, i.e. getting to the bottom of, my own inner experience. In order to do that, and heal my own schizoid condition, I eventually had to ask myself what I call the Bowlby question: --

What, in the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness, was the advantage to the organism of having the conflicts between the exciting, rejecting, and ideal objects and the libidinal, anti-libidinal, and central egos continue to play out in the psyche, and therefore repeat externally in reality, throughout its lifetime?

The answer to this question offers a paradigm shift in relation to the study of human evolution, and also I think refines and advances the theory within an evolutionary context in a way that can be of benefit to clients.

Way in: -- if you just want to know the conclusions so far, then start with the paper The First Year of Life…... However if you would like to follow the full story of a schizoid psyche engaged in self-healing through academic and scientific research, then I suggest that you start with the Case Study of Client Jane, whose schizoid condition was similar to mine but less severe, and then read the Book Created in the Image from start to finish. Chapters 6 and 7 provide detailed examinations of self-healing processes in two well known cases with schizoid conditions so severe as to become psychotic. Chapters 8 and 9 explain my evolutionary revisions of object relations theory. Finally read the paper, skipping over the repeat material in it.

The essays of course came before the book. The first, Existential Anxiety was inspired by a couple of lines in Guntrip (1968), commenting on the schizoid foundations in the psyches of some notable scientists and philosophers. It was Guntrip's belief that the schizoid condition is universal. The two essays on Part Selves were condensed to form the basis of chapter 1, and therefore contain some material omitted from the book. My comments under Hominin Psyche makes Headlines will be aimed at making sense of current events at the deeper levels of the human psyche as elucidated by object relations theory. They are motivated in part by an intense irritation at the regular exclamation heard on the radio that certain behaviours are incomprehensible, when in fact theories that explain them have been in use for decades.

Request. It is just possible that someone coming to the site from this orientation may think they recognize me, and if so I would ask them to respect my chosen anonymity, which is for the protection of my clients as well as myself.