The ways in which an individual (the subject) relates to and perceives other people (his or her objects) has been a preoccupation of psychoanalysis and in recent years a plethora of concepts has grown up in the literature. In this study, the changing meanings of the different concepts are explained from context to context, discussing in depth the theoretical issues underlying them. The text includes an historical survey of how mental objects have been understood in the various schools of psychoanalysis as they have developed. The topics discussed include: Freud and his associates; the...