Object relation theory is a psychological process of developing psyche in relation to others in a childhood environment. It involves exploring relations of external people and internal images. It requires modification of the psychodynamic theory so that there is less emphasis on the development in forming adult personality.
Robbie is an exciting client who is arrested severally for drinking and disturbing. At first, she is reluctant to attend therapy sessions. After being convinced by the judge, she eventually accepts, and she starts to follow the. The therapist is clearly not irritated by Robbie's comments when she tries to talk to her. She seemed rather grateful attending the sessions. Her charges were dropped by the judge when he realized that she would instead seek help than go to jail for her behavior. This paper explains how object relation theory can be used to account for Robbie's experiences. It will also describe possible thoughts about both Robbie and the therapist and explain their reactions.
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The therapist does an excellent job by acknowledging Robbie about her intelligence and proceeds to explain that there was a possibility for change. However, I think she would have tried to dig even deeper to get her to open up more. She should have used her triggers more. The administrator should have had more time. It is clear that he is only concerned about progress, and if a client doesn't show improvement, then this indicates incompetence in the therapists.
I think Robbie was disturbed when she attempts to irritate the therapist; she clearly wants to offend someone and push people away from her thoughts. This is where object relation theory would have come in handy to help her develop her psyche abilities to help her be in touch with her adult personality (Ogden,1983) .
Object relation theory also motivates people to be in contact with others . I would have used this theory as a therapist with the aim of retrieving mental images contributing to present hardships in dealing with people. There is a chance that Robbie enjoys these sessions because she at least gets someone to talk to. This is because this theory states that infants form mental images for themselves in relation to people, and this influences their personality later in life. This would be one ideal way to use this theory in this therapy.
Secondly, I think the therapist should have started to create a good rapport between herself and Robbie. Good client-therapist rapport influences positive outcomes ( Leach, (2005). The construction of an infant's limited cognitive abilities mainly reflects reality. It would have been better to keep pushing until Robbie spoke about one of the mental images she had. This would be a significant milestone in her recovery process. In therapy, a person's behaviors might help to understand how the person is understood or affected by the environment. The therapist should encourage the person to achieve greater awareness. This would have been the next necessary step in progress.
The absence of trust between the therapist and the client could affect the recovery process (Help et al., 2021) . Robbie would risk abandoning these attachments if the relationship is not good. This psychodynamic condition requires a more extended treatment period compared to others. I would personally use a more solution-based approach; I would have taken more time with Robbie. Continue to build a rapport with her until she eventually opens up.
The fact that Robbie has issues with her neighbors shows that she is having problems with human interaction. This is a good diagnosis since we already know that the object relation theory. This was all she told the therapist, ignoring the direct questions she was being asked in order for her to open up and talk about her feelings.
In one of the sessions, we see Robbie talking about how irritated she was about the neighbors. Amid conversation with the therapist, she pulls out a knife from her purse and starts to clean her nails with it. I think this is a sign of agitation and anger. It could also be fear because her carrying a knife could be a defense mechanism. But she doesn't use it on the therapist, which shows that she could have started to develop friendly affection towards her.
The therapist is composed and doesn't freak out. She asks a sarcastic question about an inquiry on the goodness of the question, and she responds with a sight grin. Object relations theory would have worked here. The therapist should have used this to dig for more triggers for her to open up about her mental images that could lead to predicting her personality disorder.
In a similar incident, a client did the same thing in one of our sessions. She pulled out a gun instead. It was a small gun with no bullets. I immediately got shocked and called her out. She held the gun as though she was used to it. I quickly asked her what the weapon was for, and she said that it kept her safe. After a series of questions, she opened up about how she used to hunt with her father when she was a little girl, and one time they were attacked. The dad saved her from a big wild fox by shooting it. She said that the gun made her safe, and that's why she carried it. I proceeded to ask whether she was feeling unsafe during our sessions, and she said that she felt unsafe everywhere. As a therapist, I moved to implement the object relation theory, and she started showing signs of progress before the end of that week.
References
Help, G., Professionals, F., Listed, G., Help, G., Professionals, F., & Therapist, F. et al. (2021). Object Relations . Goodtherapy.org. Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/object-relations .
Leach, M. J. (2005). Rapport: A key to treatment success. Complementary therapies in clinical practice , 11 (4), 262-265.
Ogden, T. H. (1983). The concept of internal object relations. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis , 64 , 227-241.
