According to Fairbairn, one might suppose that she is dominated by her libidinal ego, which incessantly pursues the exciting object. Despite the fact that her bad internal object (father) was abusive and neglectful, her actions indicated that she continued to hope for the exciting object (Summer, 1994). Any painful or traumatic memories of his father are repressed when the hopeful self (libidinal ego) represses the abused self (anti-libidinal ego). Rita consciously believes that the exciting object (the only object of which her libidinal ego is consciously aware) will eventually love and nurture her one day (Summer, 1994; Summers, 2005). Fairbairn believed that internalized bad objects are stubborn, therefore difficult to abandon. Internalized bad objects shape relationships according to the early, internalized model from which they arise. So the reason Rita continues to seek similar dysfunctional relationships throughout her life is because they are familiar and elicit predictable and “comfortable” relationship patterns. Furthermore, because the bad object becomes an ego structure, getting rid of it creates a void in the psyche – the sense of self is disrupted (Summers,