Generally, Object Relations theorist's believe that the therapeutic relationship should provide a "holding environment" for the patient; an environment in which the patient's self and object representations, along with their affective states, are held and then returned to the patient after they have been processed and modified by the therapist. To do this effectively, the analyst deals with a narrative rather than historical truth. That is the "object", the mental representation of another person, can, and often is based on a distortion. It is this internalized object that the analyst must contend with.

Object relations theory follows Erik Erickson's theory of development, which grew from and was consistent with Freud's theory. Erickson described eight stages of the life cycle. The stages are not fixed in time, but a person may have residual problems carried from one stage to the next causing st

Another Object relations theorist, Heinz Kohut felt, in a nutshell, that empathic failures in the mother could lead to a developmental arrest at a particular stage when children need to use others to perform self-object functions.

I have worked with delinquent kids for many years as an advocate and just recently in a therapeutic environment. At times they seem "hopeless" and their problems and difficult behaviors overwhelming. I suspect that if asked how to best deal with them, Winnicutt would suggest "re-mothering" in order to strengthen the ego their environment did not support. "Re-mothering" not only in the "therapeutic let's do three years of psychoanalysis sense", but also by concretely allowing the child to experience, maybe for the first time, or possibly re-experience, a "good enough mother" by way of a controlled environment. In my minds eye I can see Winnicutt's stable environment being translated to a "good enough" out-of-home placement. Such a place would offer a stable, consistent environment- an environment where the kid can experience Id impulses in a setting that provides him with unfailing ego support...Ego support strong enough that the kid can build a strong ego structure. Many of the other theories, even Erikson's rather up-beat developmental "plan", do not strike the chord of hope I feel in Winnicutt.

Another Objections relations theorist, Ronald Fairbarin, theori

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