Fairbairn and the Object Relations Tradition

Graham S. Clarke, PhD, is Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, and author of 'Personal Relations Theory: Fairbairn, Macmurray and Suttie'. David E. Scharff, MD, is Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association's Committee on Family and Couple Psychoanalysis; Chair of the Board, Founder and former Director of the International Psychotherapy Institute, Washington, DC; and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal 'Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China', and author and editor of numerous books and articles, including 'The Sexual Relationship', 'Object Relations Family Therapy' (with Jill Savege Scharff), 'Object Relations Couple Therapy', 'The Interpersonal Unconscious', and 'Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy'.

'This is an extraordinary work: extraordinary in many ways. The choice of the subject, Fairbairn; the unusually well-crafted editing; the number of Fairbairn scholars who made contributions; and the editorial choreography of the contributions. By "editorial choreography" I began to wonder if it had been written by a single author, partially because the flow of the chapters appeared seamlessly connected, and yet in its vastness the work was virtually all inclusive in dealing with Fairbairn's works - to say nothing of being inclusive of many of his unpublished works, which the Fairbairn family put at the editors' disposal. This is a gem of a book. I do so much want it to be successful: it is much needed.'- From the Introduction by James S. Grotstein

• Series Editors’ Foreword , Introduction , Introduction , Prologue , Historical , From instinct to self: the evolution and implications of W. R. D. Fairbairn’s theory of object relations , From Oedipus to Antigone: Hegelian themes in Fairbairn , Making Fairbairn’s psychoanalysis thinkable: Henry Drummond’s natural laws of the spiritual world , Splitting in the history of psychoanalysis: from Janet and Freud to Fairbairn, passing through Ferenczi and Suttie , Fairbairn, Suttie, and Macmurray—an essay , Religion in the life and work of W. R. D. Fairbairn , Fairbairn and homosexuality: sex versus conscience , Fairbairn in Argentina: the “Fairbairn Space” in the Argentine Psychoanalytic Association (APA) , Some comments about Ronald Fairbairn’s impact today , Clinical , Why read Fairbairn? , On the origin of internal objects in the works of Fairbairn and Klein and the possible therapeutic consequences , Fairbairn: Oedipus reconfigured by trauma , Sitting with marital tensions: The work of Henry Dicks in applying Fairbairn’s ideas to couple relationships , W. R. D. Fairbairn’s contribution to the study of personality disorders , Fairbairn: abuse, trauma, and multiplicity , Fairbairn and multiple personality , Fairbairn and “emptiness pathology” , Fairbairn’s unique contributions to dream interpretation , The analyst as good object: A Fairbairnian perspective , Expanding Fairbairn’s reach , Theoretical , The contribution of W. R. D. Fairbairn (1889–1965) to psychoanalytic theory and practice , John Padel’s contribution to an understanding of Fairbairn’s object relations theory , Fairbairn elaborated: Guntrip and the psychoanalytic romantic model , From Fairbairn to Winnicott , Fairbairn and Ferenczi , Mitchell reading Fairbairn , Fairbairn’s influence on Stephen Mitchell’s theoretical and clinical work , Self and society, trauma and the link , Fairbairn and Pichon-Rivière: Object relations, link, and group , The “intuitive position” and its relationship to creativity, science, and art in Fairbairn’s work , Revising Fairbairn’s structural theory , Fairbairn’s accomplishment is good science , Fairbairn and partitive conceptions of mind , Fairbairn and the philosophy of intersubjectivity , Applications , Fair play: A restitution of Fairbairn’s forgotten role in the historical drama of art and psychoanalysis , Viewing Camus’s The Stranger from the perspective of W. R. D. Fairbairn’s object relations , The family is the first social group, followed by the clan, tribe, and nation , Fairbairn’s object relations theory and social work in child welfare , Envoi