UNDERSTANDING MENTAL OBJECTS

Preface IX
Introduction 1

Part One: Historical survey 7
Freud and his associates 9
Freud 9
Ferenczi 23
Abraham 27

2 Object-related orientations 31
Melanie Klein 31
Fairbairn 56
Bion 64
Grotstein 69

3 Orientations in ego psychology 72
Bychowski 72
Spitz 74
Edith Jacobson 76
The representational theorists: 85
Novey 86
Beres 89
Sandler 90
Schafer 98
Kernberg 103
Stierlin 108
Object constancy 109

4 Self orientations 113
Winnicott 113
Kohut 118


Part Two: Major theoretical issues 123
5 Origins of the mental object - internal or external 125

6 Status of the mental object - experiential or non-experiential 130

7 The mental object and motivation 133

8 The mental object as a developmental capacity 136

9 The position of the mental object vis-à-vis the self 139

10 Responsibility - the clinical issue 142

Part Three: A conceptual analysis 147
11 Mental objects as representations (or schemas) 149

12 Mental objects as phantasies 154

13 Mental objects as developmental capacities 159

14 Conclusion 165

Notes 166
Bibliography 185
Index 202