THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDAPEST-SCHOOL-O F-PSYCHOANALYSIS TO THE OBJECT RELATION-THEORY

The great figures of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis Sandor Fere nczi, Michael and Alice Balint, Imre Hermann had a strong influence on the development of modern psychoanalysis, particularly on objectrelat ion-theory in a broader sense. Ferenczi in his last papers, Balint and Hermann in their whole work emphasized that there exists a primary ob ject-relation at the beginning of human life. Hermann's theory of the clinging-instinct is pivotal in these considerations as a bridge betwe en the drive theory of classical psychoanalysis and modern objectrelat ion-theory. Objectrelation-theory in a narrower sense - the theory of the inner objects - was not conceptualized systematic in the Hungarian school. But Ferenczi's concept on introjection and some ideas and obs ervations of Balint and Hermann prepared the way to this direction of modern psychoanalytic thinking.