2.4 On Middle School and Attachment Theory
On Middle School and Attachment Theory
Nov 10, 2004
The Legacy of Fairbairn and Sutherland: Psychotherapeutic Applications, ed. by Jill Scharff and David Scharff, Routledge, 2005
An Introduction to Object Relations, by Lavinia Gomez, FA, 1997 p54-176.
(1) Ronald Fairbairn: The Dynamic Structure of the Self
Life:
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1889 … remained in Edinburgh to study philosophy, going on to study theology and Hellenic studies in London, Manchester and abroad till WWI … studied medicine 1919 … did not have access to a training analyst, supervision or formal training … in analysis for 2 years with Ernest Connell, an Edinburgh psychiatrist who had been psychoanalysed by Jones … by 1925 seeing his own patients for analysis … despite several attempts to move to London, he remained in Edinburgh for the rest of his life … married 1926 (37 y/o) … most active and original work done in 1930s & 1940s
We get a picture of Fairbairn as isolated and with little support, the butt of hostility and ridicule, which no doubt increased his tendency to turn inwards rather than outwards. It is not surprising that in 1934, when his personal and work circumstances were at a very low ebb, he developed the same neurotic symptom from which his father had suffered: an inhibition which increased to an inability to urinate when others were nearby.
… first wife Mary More Gordon died in 1952 … began to suffer increasing ill-health (several near-fatal bouts of influenza and developed parkinson’s disease) … Guntrip was in analysis with Fairbairn during 1950s … married his secretary Marian Mackintosh in 1959 … It is touching to learn that despite his poor health and his difficulties with traveling, he made the journey to London for Melanie Klein’s funeral in 1960. … died 1964
Theory:
1. Overview
… thorough and critical reading of Freud … his training in philosophy enabled him to pick out of the assumptions and structures underlying Freudian theory … concluded that the scientific foundations on which Freud’s work rested were out of date … the distinction between matter and energy, structure and instinct, should be abandoned … the person is structured energy, or dynamic structure …saw the person as the libidinal ‘I’ with the overarching aim of relating to another ‘I’. … libido, or the person in her libidinal capacity, is primarily not pleasure-seeking but object-seeking … our most basic anxiety, therefore, is separation anxiety … saw aggression as a reactive rather than a fundamental phenomenon, arising when libidinal contact is blocked or frustrated …the id is redundant in Fairbiarn’s structure too …
2. The Schizoid Position
… at birth, our hypothetical beginning, we are whole and undivided, through the traumas and stresses of post-natal life our primary unity is broken along predictable lines, and we become divided within ourselves and against ourselves. … He termed this primary division the schizoid position … He is suggesting not that we are all schizoid personalities but that we are all split and conflicted, and that these inner splits and conflicts structure the self. … What is the nature of the primary trauma leading to this internal rupture? …if the baby is not convinced that her object loves her for herself, and if the baby is not convinced that her object accepts her love as love …
ideal object --- central ego
exciting object --- libidinal ego
rejecting object --- anti-libidinal ego (internal saboteur)(anti-wanting I)