Object relations therapy
Depth-oriented therapy for the patterns you learned in your earliest relationships, and the way they keep shaping the ones you have now.
What it is
Object relations is a psychodynamic approach built on a plain idea: we carry internal versions of the important people from our early life, and we relate to new people, and to ourselves, through those templates. If closeness once meant danger, or love came with conditions, the nervous system remembers, and it will reproduce that story with a partner, a boss, or a therapist until it is seen and reworked.
What a session looks like
This is slower, more open work than CBT or EMDR. We follow what comes up: the recurring fight, the sudden shutdown, the way you talk to yourself when you fail. We notice what happens between us in the room too, because the pattern shows up there, and that’s where it can change. There is no worksheet, but there is direction; I’m active and I say what I see.
Who it helps
- Relationship patterns that repeat across partners or friendships
- Difficulty trusting, or losing yourself in others
- Chronic shame, emptiness or a harsh inner critic
- Complex trauma where symptom work has plateaued
- Personality-level struggles including borderline and dissociative experiences
Good to know
Many clients combine this with trauma reprocessing: EMDR clears the memories, object relations reshapes what the memories built. Expect a longer arc, usually months rather than weeks, and a relationship that itself becomes part of the treatment.
Ready when you are
Sessions are weekly, in person or by video, at the standard rate.