OBJECT RELATIONAL THEORISTS
Descriptions, metaphors, ideas about how to introduce these theories to students.
Introduce Topic
Recommended Resources
Course Assignments
INTRODUCE TOPIC
I discuss Mahler a lot. I give one three-hour lecture on her stuff, along with Akhtar's modifications. I also give a bit about how Bowlby differs by throwing out drive theory (I usually say, he didn't believe sex was biological). And I discuss Otto Kernberg in a different lecture about diagnosis of borderlines, since he uses five or six theories, it's more advanced.
Jerome S. Blackman, M.D.
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Virginia Wesleyan College
Jsbmd1@cox.net
jblackmanmd@aol.com
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On the topic of object relations, I usually introduce the theory by saying something like “this is the theory that explains why your roommate breaks up with one jerk only to start dating a different guy who is basically the same kind of jerk.”
Lisa Damour, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
John Carroll University
ldamour@jcu.edu
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I discuss these during the history of psychology section.
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I have found that students have little or no difficulty with object relations perspectives.
Rhonda Reinholtz, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist, Lecturer
University of Wisconsin-Madison
rreinholtz@wisc.edu
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Greenberg. J. R.. & Mitchell. S. A. (1983). Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Object Relations PowerPoint Presentation, by Jerome Blackman, M.D. (to follow)
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COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
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