W atch renowned psychoanalyst Jill Savege Scharff masterfully demonstrate Object Relations Psychotherapy in an actual therapy session in this 3-part video.

An object relations approach makes the relationship between therapist and client primary. A process that is incomprehensible and out of reach to many of us is created by the psychotherapist, who creates a holding environment for unconscious material to emerge and childhood wounds to be worked through. She remains neutral yet connected, follows her client’s lead, looks for the subtle affect and patterns of speech that signal underlying conflict, and encourages her client’s deeper issues of guilt towards his mother to surface and be addressed. Jon Carlson and Diane Kjos discuss the approach with Dr. Scharff.