Will appeal to scholars across both film studies and psychoanalysis Uses a range of contemporary films to illustrate Combines socio-political commentary and psychological insight

Will appeal to scholars across both film studies and psychoanalysis Uses a range of contemporary films to illustrate Combines socio-political commentary and psychological insight

Ronald Fairbairn developed a thoroughgoing object relations theory that became a foundation for modern clinical thought. This volume is homage to the enduring power of his thinking, and of his importance now and for the future of relational thinking within the social and human sciences. The book gathers an international group of therapists, analysts, psychiatrists, social commentators, and historians, who contend that Fairbairn's work extends powerfully beyond the therapeutic. They suggest that social, cultural, and historical dimensions can all be illuminated by his work.Object relations as a strand within psychoanalysis began with Freud and passed through Ferenczi and Rank, Balint, Suttie, and Klein, to come of age in Fairbairn's papers of the early 1940s. That there is still life in this line of thinking is illustrated by the essays in this collection and by the modern relational turn in psychoanalytic theory, the development of attachment theory, and the increasing recognition that there is 'no such thing as an ego' without context, without relationships, without a social milieu.

Personal relationships concern us all, they are essential to our becoming who we are and constitute our most vital experience of what it is like to be alive and human. This book proposes a new approach to understanding who we are based on the work of Ronald Fairbairn, John Macmurray and Ian Suttie, whose ideas provide a positive perspective on our future collective possibilities.
"Personal Relations Theory" presents a new and comprehensive account of Fairbairn's mature theory. Part One provides a thorough overview of Fairbairn's work and its ramifications for our understanding of creativity and the nature of inner reality. Part Two covers Fairbairn's relationship to Macmurray and Suttie, and their relevance to realist philosophy, the scientific status of psychoanalysis, attachment theory and the politics of the personal relations view point. Subjects discussed in depth include:
- Internal objects and inner reality: Fairbairn and Klein
- Fairbairn's theory of art in the light of his mature model of mind
- The preconscious and psychic change in Fairbairn's model of mind
- The politics of attachment theory and personal relations theory: Fairbairn, Suttie and Bowlby
The combination of Fairbairn, Macmurray and Suttie presented here forms an original strand of object relations theory, which has implications and consequences for a wide spectrum of concerns. This book will be of value to anyone interested in psychoanalysis, especially in relation to politics, society and the arts

Thinking through Fairbairn offers parallel perspectives on Fairbairn's work. It explores an extended interpretation of his 'psychology of dynamic structure' and applies that model to a number of different areas. Fairbairn's Scottish origins are explored through his relationship with the work of Ian Suttie and Edward Glover. A new extended object relations model of phantasy and inner reality that reflects Fairbairn's approach as represented by his contribution to the Controversial Discussions is also developed. In cooperation with Paul Finnegan, this version of Fairbairn's model is applied to an understanding of multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. This model is combined with Fairbairn's theory of art to provide an understanding of some 'puzzle' films based in trauma and dissociation. Fairbairn's theory is presented here as a synthesis of classical and relational approaches, and his appropriation by relational theorists as a precursor to exclusively relational approaches challenged.

Substantial contributions from an internationally varied host of authors use newly available material to develop novel aspects of Fairbairn s life and theory, reviewing the basic ideas of his theory, clinical application, and new developments built on his object relations vision of psychoanalysis. Comprising thirty-nine papers, thirty-six of which are original to this volume, the book is divided into four main sections historical, clinical, theoretical and applied. Fairbairn s contribution to object-relations theory is rehearsed and the future development of Fairbairn s work is considered. Fairbairn s relationship with Guntrip and Winnicott is explored, his influence on a philosophical and a clinical understanding of multiplicity is assessed, his social and historical papers are mined for his views on prejudice and the social order, and new models of clinical configurations suggested. Fairbairn s relationship with and influence on Mitchell is investigated from different perspectives and his position within Scottish and psychoanalytic history also developed. Fairbairn s contribution to couple therapy, to an understanding of the Oedipus situation, to the acceptance and understanding of literary works and to child welfare are all broached. The influence of religion and Fairbairn s own understanding of his gender identity are explored based on newly available documents including some self-analytic notes. Fairbairn s influence in South America and in particular Argentina is manifest in a variety of contributions, and his significant but generally forgotten or ignored contribution to psychoanalytic aesthetics is assessed."