The Internal World Unlocked: Ronald Fairbairn’s Object Relations in the Clinic

Fairbairn proposed that the "libido" is not looking for a discharge of energy (pleasure), but for a person (an "object"). From birth, an infant's survival depends on being recognized as a unique person by their primary caregiver. When this "real relationship" fails due to neglect or abuse, the infant's mind must adapt to survive the psychological threat of being unloved. The Endopsychic Structure: Why We Split

Conference: Ronald Fairbairn and the Object Relations Tradition

At the heart of Ronald Fairbairn’s revolutionary contribution to psychoanalysis is a single, profound shift: human beings are not driven by biological urges for pleasure, but by an innate, fundamental need for . While Freud saw the mind as a cauldron of drives, Fairbairn viewed it as a structure built entirely from the history of our connections with others.