object relations theory and clinical psychoanalysis

Object-relations approaches address interpersonal and intrapersonal processes in families and couples, including breakdown of marital relationships, partner narcissism, adolescent separation and individuation, role typing, family communication patterns, defense mechanisms and entrapment, and broader emotional processes. They also introduce core object-relations concepts such as libidinal objects and distinctions between intrapersonal and interpersonal spheres.

The therapist is presented as a potential new "good" object to be internalized by the patient; clinical guidance in the text offers concrete suggestions for recognizing patients' internal structures during interviews and responding therapeutically to those transference/countertransference dynamics.

The book describes how children acquire object concepts that include both object permanence and libidinal strivings. It explicitly defines the "libidinal object" as the object toward which libidinal (emotional/drive) energies are directed and explains how ideas of permanence and libidinal investment develop over time.