MFT Exam - Object Relations Theory Flashcards

Object Relations Theory, a transgenerational model of family therapy, focuses on how early relationships—especially with primary caregivers—shape an individual’s inner world and influence current relationships. Key contributors include James Framo, Norman Paul, and Jill & David Scharff. The “object” refers to significant others or mental representations of them that are internalized (introjects) and carried into adult life. Through projection and projective identification, individuals unconsciously place parts of themselves onto others, affecting relational dynamics. Transference and countertransference emerge as past relational patterns are reenacted in therapy. The therapist helps clients gain insight into these unconscious processes through interpretation, facilitating working through unresolved childhood conflicts to achieve healthier, more authentic relationships.

Object Relations Theory:
The therapist’s tendency to attribute qualities that reflect unresolved grievances from a previous relationship onto a client.

Object Relations Theory:
After insight is achieved, the working through process entails translating insight into more desirable and constructive ways of being.

Object Relations Theory:
The tendency of individuals to attribute qualities to other individuals—partners, family members, or the therapist—that reflect unresolved grievances from a previous relationship.

Object Relations Theory:
When a child is born, each parent of the couple system projects the remnants of his or her repressed object relationships onto the child. The child then internalizes these projections into becoming significant components of his or her personality development.

Object Relations Theory: When a child is born, each parent projects the fragments of his or her repressed object relationships onto the child.

Object Relations Theory:
An individual’s collective distortions based upon his or her subjective experiences and perceptions of another person—typically, a primary care giver. The object is typically an internalized representation of a parent or primary caregiver based upon a series of repeated interactions throughout early childhood.

Object Relations Theory: Internalized objects become introjects, and are split into being either all-good or all-bad.

Object Relations Theory:
The therapist’s hypotheses pertaining to the influence of a client’s past experiences on his or her current behaviors and struggles.

Object Relations Theory:
The process of raising unconscious forces to awareness, allowing clients to better understand how underlying dynamics impact their behavior and relationships.