Object in Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Therapy

Name of Concept

Object in Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Therapy

Introduction

Psychoanalysis, as developed by Sigmund Freud, provides a model of the interaction between an individual’s internal experiences with external stimuli. In Psychoanalysis, an object is a person, place, or thing that satisfies a libidinal or aggressive drive. An object can be an external and/or internal stimuli that the individual processes in one or all of three ways: (1) projection, (2) introjection, or (3) splitting. Projection happens when a person takes internalized aspects of themselves and reflects these views or characteristics onto external stimuli. Introjection occurs when an individual internalizes attributes, behaviors, or characteristics of external stimuli. The process of splitting creates two objects from one, for which an individual can divide the contradictory aspects of the whole object into two. An object can be categorized as good or bad, partial or whole, and can be internalized within a...