Self and Others: Object Relations Theory in Practice

354 Pages·1999·139.08 MB·English

by  N. Gregory Hamilton

SELF AND OTHERS
Object Relations Theory
in Practice

SELF AND OTHERS
Object Relations Theory
in Practice
N. Gregory Hamilton, M.D.
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Oxford
The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint the following material:
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas. Case description based on material in The
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 50:323-340.
Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, New York, and A. P. Watt, Ud., London, England.
Quote from W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge, 1944.
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana. Quote from Rolfe Humphrie's translation of
Ovid's Metamorphoses, 1955.
Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, Washington, D.C. Quote from Sundra
Saperstein and Barbara Vobedjda's story as it appeared in The Oregonian, May 22, 1986.
Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, New York. Quote from W. B. Yeats' "Among
School Children," 1927.
NAL, New York, New York. Quote from R. B. Blakney's translation of Lao Tzu's The Way of
Liye: Tao Te Ching, 1955.
Random House, Inc., New York, New York. Quotes from William Faulkner's "Nobel Prize
Speech," in n eF aulkner Reader, 1954, and from E. L. Doctorow's "Willi," in Lives ofthe Poets,
1984.
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright O 1990,1988 by Jason Aronson Inc.
First Rowman & Littlefield edition published in 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
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without the prior permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hamilton, N. Gregory
Self and others.
Bibliography: p. / Includes index.
1. Self. 2. Object relations (Psychoanalysis) 3. Psychology, Pathological. 4.
Psychotherapy. I. Title. 11. Title: Object relations theory in practice. [DNLM: 1. Ego. 2.
Object Attachment. 3. Psychoanalytic Theory. WM460.5.02 H221sI
RC455.4.S42H34 1987 154.2'2 87-1 9479
ISBN 0-87668-544-0
ISBN: 978-0-87668-554-0
Printed in the United States of America
@-The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO 239.48-1 992.

Preface and Acknowledgments
PART I
SELF, OBJECT, AND EGO
Chapter 1 The Object
Chapter 2 The Self
Chapter 3 Self-object
Chapter 4 The Ego
PART I1
DEVELOPING OBJECT RELATIONS
Chapter 5 Separation and Individuation 35
Autism (0 to 2 Months)
Symbiosis (2 to 6 Months)
Separation-Individuation (6 to 24 Months)
Object Constancy (24 to 36 Months and Beyond)
viii CONTENTS
Chapter 6 Psychological Mechanisms 59
Integration and Differentiation
Projection
Incorporation, Introjection, and Identification
Splitting
Idealization and Devaluation
Projective Identification
Transitional Object Formation
Developing Whole Object Relations
Identification
PART 111
THE OBJECT RELATIONS CONTINUUM
Chapter 7 Autism
Chapter 8 Schizophrenia
Chapter 9 Mania
Chapter 10 Borderline Personality Disorder
Chapter 11 Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Chapter 12 Neurotic and Normal Personalities
PART IV
TREATMENT
Chapter 13 Relationship within Technique
History
Relationship within Technique:
Clinical Example
The Relationship in Technical Terms
The Container and the Contained
The Holding Environment and the
Good Enough Mother
Empathy
Titrating the Closeness and the Need-Fear
Dilemma
Positive Projective Identification
Attitude and Technique
Chapter 14 Technique within Relationship 205
Insight and Growth
Clarification, Confrontation, and Interpretation
Confronting Structure Breaks
Setting Limits
Confronting Negative Transference
Confronting Acting Out
Juxtaposing Good and Bad Object Relations
Units
Clarifying Self and Object in
Projective Identification
Supporting Self-Esteem while Confronting
the Grandiose Self
Chapter 15 Countertransference 235
Projective Identification and Countertransference
The Container and the Contained
Boredom
Devaluing
Therapeutic Zeal
Victim-Victimizer Roles
Anger and Guilt
Positive Countertransference
Chapter 16 Groups, Systems, and Parallel Processes
General Systems Theory
Boundary Classification
Basic Assumption Groups
Splitting in Groups
Parallel Processes in Supervision
Families and Borderline Personality Disorder
Families and Schizophrenia
PART V
BROADER CONTEXTS
Chapter 17 Folklore, Myths, and Transformations
of the Self 271
History
Differentiation
Practicing
Rapprochement
Oedipal Development