Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality

First published in 1952, W.R.D. Fairbairn's "Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality" re-oriented psychoanalysis by centring human development on the infant's innate need for relationships, describing the process of splitting and the internal dynamic relationship between ego and object. His elegant theory is still a vital framework of psychoanalytic theory and practice, infant research, group relations and family therapy. This classic collection of papers, available for the first time in paperback, has a new introduction which sets Fairbairn's work in context, provides an overview of object relations theory, and traces modern developments launched by Fairbairn's discoveries.