Theories of Object Relations - (Personality, Psychopathology, & Psychotherapy) by Howard Bacal & Kenneth Newman (Hardcover)

About the Book

A comprehensive account of the work of the major contributors to object relations theories, this book covers the work of the major American and British contributors to object relations theory, focusing on the ways in which these theories anticipated and enriched the emerging field of self psychology.

Book Synopsis

Theories of Object Relations: Bridges to Self Psychology discusses the work of the major American and British contributors to object relations theory, focusing on the ways in which these theories anticipated and enriched the emerging field of self psychology. Howard Bacal and Kenneth Newman significantly advance the integration of major theoretical paradigms and introduce new concepts that provide fresh perspectives on the clinical situation. The authors provide systematic and scholarly synopses of the work of Harry Stack Sullivan, Otto Kernberg, Margaret Mahler, Heinz Kohut and his colleagues, Ian Suttie, Melanie Klein, Michael Balint, W.R.D. Fairbairn, Harry Guntrip, D.W. Winnicott, and John Bowlby. The authors' aim is to make a significant contribution to the integration of therapeutically useful ideas while at the same time pointing out the utility of the distinctive approaches.

Bacal and Newman help practitioners to organize and clarify their understanding of patients as they apply object relations theory in a variety of settings to their clinical work.

Review Quotes

A masterful overview of the various object relational perspectives within psychoanalysis, both integrative and innovative. It is integrative in the comprehensiveness of its assessment of the oeuvre of each of the many theorists described, each in their similarities to (which are always substantial), but also in their differences from (whch are always also present), each of the others. It is innovative in tracing the foreshadowing in, and the linkages from, each of them to Kohut's later evolving self psychology and they make out a most plausible case for considering self psychology the quintessential object relations perspective, finally giving the self co-equal valence with the object in the self-object relationship. A must for all concerned with the interactive evolution of theory and technique in our field.

About the Author

Howard A. Bacal, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C) is a Training Analyst and former Director of the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He is in private practice.

Kenneth M. Newman, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He is in private practice.