MELANIE KLEIN KLEIN OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY (TOP)

• Object of the Drive

  is any person, part of a person, or thing through which the aim is satisfied. Klein and other object relations theorists begin with this basic assumption of Freud and then speculate on how the infant’s real or fantasized early relations with the mother or the breast become a model for all later interpersonal relationships.
• Position (stage of development)

  to indicate that positions alternate back and forth.
• The Paranoid-schizoid Position


  a way of organizing experiences that includes both paranoid feelings of being persecuted and a splitting of internal and external objects into the good and the bad. Which time the ego’s perception of the external world is subjective and fantastic rather than objective and real.
• Ideal Breast


  provides love, comfort, and gratification.
• Depressive Position


  Feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object.
• Introjection


  meant that infants fantasize taking into their body those perceptions and experiences that they have had with the external object, originally the mother’s breast. begins with an infant’s first feeding, when there is an attempt to incorporate the mother’s breast into the infant’s body.
• Projection

  is the fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses reside in another person and not within one’s body. unmanageable destructive impulses onto external objects, infants alleviate the unbearable anxiety of being destroyed by dangerous internal forces.
• Splitting


   infants can only manage the good and bad aspects of themselves and of external objects by splitting them, that is, by keeping apart incompatible impulses.
• Projective Identification


  a psychic defense mechanism in which infants split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them into another object, and finally introject them back into themselves in a changed or distorted form.
• Internalizations


   they mean that the person takes in (introjects) aspects of the external world and then organizes those introjections into a psychologically meaningful framework. 
• The Ego


  mostly unorganized at birth, it nevertheless is strong enough to feel anxiety, to use defense mechanisms, and to form early object relations in both fantasy and reality. The ego begins to evolve with the infant’s first experience with feeding, when the good breast fills the infant not only with milk but with love and security.
• Normal Autism


  which spans the period from birth until about age 3 or 4 weeks. “Objectless” stage, a time when an infant naturally searches for the mother’s breast
• Normal Symbiosis


  during this time, “the infant behaves and functions as though he and his mother were an omnipotent system—a dual unity within one common boundary.
• Separation-Individuation


  during this time, children become psychologically separated from their mothers, achieve a sense of individuation, and begin to develop feelings of personal identity.
• Differentiation


  is marked by a bodily breaking away from the mother-infant symbiotic orbit.
• Practicing


  substage of separation-individuation. During this subphase, children easily distinguish their body from their mother’s, establish a specific bond with their mother, and begin to develop an autonomous ego.
• Rapprochement Crisis


  these attempts are never completely successful, children of this age often fight dramatically with their mother.
• Libidinal Object Constancy


  during this time, children must develop a constant inner representation of their mother so that they can tolerate being physically separate from her. May result in later regressions to a stage when a person had not yet achieved separation from the mother and thus a sense of personal identity.
• Self


  “the center of the individual’s psychological universe”. The self gives unity and consistency to one’s experiences, remains relatively stable over time, and is “the center of initiative and a recipient of impressions”.
• The Grandiose-exhibitinisic Self


  established when the infant relates to a “mirroring” self object who reflects approval of its behavior.
• Idealized Parent Image


  is opposed to the grandiose self because it implies that someone else is perfect. Nevertheless, it too satisfies a narcissistic need because the infant adopts the attitude “You are perfect, but I am part of you.”
• Protest Stage


  when their caregiver is first out of sight, infants will cry, resist soothing by other people, and search for their caregiver. This stage is the protest stage. 
• Despair


  as separation continues, infants become quiet, sad, passive, listless, and apathetic. 
• Detachment


  during this stage, infants become emotionally detached from other people, including their caregiver. If their caregiver (mother) returns, infants will disregard and avoid her. Children who become detached are no longer upset when their mother leaves them.
• John Bowlby's Attachment Theory


  theory rests on two fundamental assumptions: First, a responsive and accessible caregiver (usually the mother) must create a secure base for the child. A second assumption of attachment theory is that a bonding relationship (or lack thereof) becomes internalized and serves as a mental working model on which future friendships and love relationships are built.
• Mary Ainsworth


  She and her associates developed a technique for measuring the type of attachment style that exists between caregiver and infant, known as the Strange Situation.
• Secure Attachment (Mary Ainsworth)


  when their mother returns, infants are happy and enthusiastic and intimate contact; for example, they will go over to their mother and want to be held. All securely attached infants are confident in the accessibility and responsiveness of their caregiver, and this security and dependability provides the foundation for play and exploration.
• Anxious-resistant Attachment Style (Mary Ainsworth)


  infants are ambivalent. When their mother leaves the room, they become unusually upset, and when their mother returns, they seek contact with her but reject attempts at being soothed. With the anxious-resistant attachment style, infants give very conflicted messages. 
• Anxious-Avoidant Attachment (Mary Ainsworth)


  with this style, infants stay calm when their mother leaves; they accept the stranger, and when their mother returns, they ignore and avoid her. 
• Anxious-resistant and Anxious-avoidant (Mary Ainsworth)


   This insecure attachment, infants lack the ability to engage in ineffective play and exploration.