Internal Objects in Couple and Family Therapy

Name of Concept

Internal objects

Introduction

Internal objects refer to mental and emotional images that are taken into one’s self and internalized. Infants internalize objects into their unconscious psyche. These objects refer not to inanimate entities but rather to the most significant caregivers in the infant’s life (e.g., mother, father, or caregiver; Goldstein 2001). So, the external object, the mother or primary caregiver, becomes internalized, in the infant’s psyche as a representation of someone in the external world. The representation of the object, namely, “my mother feeds me when I am hungry,” leads to a positive or good representation of the external object (Horner 1991). Furthermore, the representation of the self in relation to the object becomes internalized, when the infant concludes that mother feeds me when I am hungry, because I am good. Eventually, the representation of the relationship comes into view on the part of the infant, meaning that the infant...