William Ronald Fairbairn and Object Relations Theory in Psychoanalysis

William Ronald Fairbairn was a Scottish psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He broke away from many of Sigmund Freud’s theories. His theories have become very popular with psychoanalysts in the last fifty years and are the basis for research in the field. He developed the object relation theory which focuses on relationships. The object being a person, such as a child’s mother, who is the object of attention. Relation refers to the interpersonal relationship with that object. Residue from this relationship stays with a person throughout the lifetime. The internal object theory which are fantasies of one’s mind which occur because needs are not met and one cannot face reality. In another of his theories, the splitting of the ego is when a person is conflicted, they will ignore one aspect of a situation and focus on the other. Unity of energy and structure was Fairbairn’s break from Freud’s theories. Thoughts and acting upon them are not separate, one cannot exist without the other. Fairbairn’s research and clinical work were well ahead of its time. It wasn’t until the second half of the twentieth century that his work was recognized for its practical applications in psychotherapy: both research and practice.

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