Early object-relations conflicts in marital interaction.

In this paper I have tried to show how certain early object-relations conflicts in marital interaction had their principal source in the rapprochement phase of the separation-individuation process. The clinical material suggested that only a tenuous separation from the early mother had been achieved, and now the spouse (be it husband or wife) had become the new maternal representation; the early mother-child interaction was being recapitulated once again between husband and wife. It was the conflicts and vicissitudes of the rapprochement crisis which were instrumental in shaping the patient's infantile neurosis and not just the oedipal struggle of the infantile neurosis prototype. The clinical material furthers confirmation of marriage as a viable developmental phase. Considering such marital interaction from the point of view of our analytic technique, it provided a unique occurrence where the infantile neurosis, the adult neurosis (i.e., the pathological marital union) and the transference neurosis came together. Two issues were thrown into clearer focus by this confluence: first, the repetition compulsion principle was distinctly demonstrated; and second, support for recovery of experience from preverbal and semiverbal stages of early object relations was forthcoming.