The main purpose of this essay is to develop the idea that the object-relations theory, introduced in the psychoanalytical movement as an opposition to the libido theory as basis to psychic constitution, produced a radical change in the psychoanalytical concept of subjects. Change is represented by the quitting of the drive as a subject foundation and by the apprehension and comprehension of subjects as personalities, or rather, substantially structured. In terms of methodology, the main work by William Ronald D. Fairbairn (1889-1964) was analyzed and taken as paradigmatic for all object-relations theories. The evolution of Fairbairn's thoughts, from his studies on schizophrenia - and the contradiction it brought to the contemporary libido theory - to the changes and overcoming the author proposed to accomplish in psychoanalytical theory, as a result of his finding that the libidinal goal is an object, are presented.
Fairbairn; object-relations theory; personality