identification with the Aggressor

The concept was first introduced by Sándor Ferenczi in his clinical diary in June 1932{{cite book |last=Ferenczi |first=Sándor |author-link=Sándor Ferenczi |editor-last=Dupont |editor-first=Judith |editor-link=Judith Dupont |others=Translated by Michael Balint, Nicola Zarday Jackson |title=The Clinical Diary of Sándor Ferenczi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w3bHvh_cszUC |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised |date=1995 |orig-date=1988 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-13527-7 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=w3bHvh_cszUC&dq=%22Identification+with+the+aggressor%22&pg=PA144 144]}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=cgHbAAAAMAAJ First edition]. and then developed in his paper "The Passions of Adults and their Influence on the Development of the Character and the Sexuality of the Child" ({{langx|de|Die Leidenschaften der Erwachsenen und deren Einfluß auf Charakter und Sexualentwicklung des Kindes}}){{cite book |last=Massing |first=Almuth |editor-last=Massing |editor-first=Almuth |title=Psychoanalytische Wege der Familientherapie. System Familie, Supplement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnGgBgAAQBAJ |date=2013 |orig-date=1990 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-642-75598-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YnGgBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48&dq=Ferenczi+1932+%22Die+Leidenschaften+der+Erwachsenen+und+deren+Einfluß+auf+Charakter+und+Sexualentwicklung+des+Kindes%22 48]}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=M6iPPQAACAAJ First edition]. for the 12th International Psycho-Analytic Congress in Wiesbaden, Germany, in September 1932.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Sabourin |first=Pierre |title=Confusion of Tongues between Adults and the Child |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/confusion-tongues-between-adults-and-child |publisher=Gale |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan |date=December 17, 2019 |access-date=January 3, 2020}}{{cite web |last=Rachman Wm. |first=Arnold |title=Ferenczi's "Confusion of Tongues" Paper: A Turning Point in the Understanding and Treatment of Trauma |url=http://www.sectionfive.org/continuing_education/ferenczi/commentary/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120181856/http://www.sectionfive.org/continuing_education/ferenczi/commentary/ |archive-date=November 20, 2008 |access-date=January 3, 2020}}

He further elaborated this work until he published it in 1949 in The International Journal of Psychoanalysis with the new title "Confusion of the Tongues Between the Adults and the Child—(The Language of Tenderness and of Passion)".{{cite journal |author=Ferenczi, Sándor |orig-date=1932 |title=Confusion of the Tongues Between the Adults and the Child—(The Language of Tenderness and of Passion) |url=http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.030.0225a |journal=International Journal of Psycho-Analysis |date=1949 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=225–230}} [https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/confusion-tongues-between-adults-and-child First edition]. In 1936, Anna Freud took up and developed the concept in her book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence ({{langx|de|Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen}}).{{cite book |last=Freud |first=Anna |author-link=Anna Freud |title=Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_EaAQAAMAAJ |date=1994 |orig-date=1936 |edition=6th, reprint |publisher=Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag |location=Frankfurt |isbn=978-3-596-42001-8 |quote=}} [https://books.google.com/books?&id=p_EaAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Die+Identifizierung+mit+dem+Angreifer%22 Die Identifizierung mit dem Angreifer].

{{main|Insufficient justification#The forbidden toy experiment|l1=The forbidden toy experiment}}

The experiment conducted in 1963 by Elliot Aronson and J. Merrill Carlsmith on the forbidden toy seems to endorse such a hypothesis and therefore this type of dynamic: one attributes oneself a mutilation of one's own desire in order to perceive oneself as autarkic, independent and not submissive.{{cite journal |last1=Aronson |first1=Elliot |authorlink1=Elliot Aronson |last2=Carlsmith |first2=J. Merrill |authorlink2=Merrill Carlsmith |date=1963 |title=Effect Of The Severity Of Threat On The Devaluation Of Forbidden Behavior |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d796/80476123cc7806ac2def313901a1a4a0c752.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304071325/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d796/80476123cc7806ac2def313901a1a4a0c752.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-04 |journal=Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology |volume=66 |issue=6 |pages=584–588 |doi=10.1037/h0039901 |s2cid=2632863}}

In 2019, Yael Lahav, Anat Talmon, and Karni Ginzburg developed the Identification With the Aggressor Scale (IAS),{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Talmon |first2=Anat |last3=Ginzburg |first3=Karni |date=27 August 2019 |title=Knowing the Abuser Inside and Out: The Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Identification With the Aggressor Scale |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335449882_Knowing_the_Abuser_Inside_and_Out_The_Development_and_Psychometric_Evaluation_of_the_Identification_With_the_Aggressor_Scale |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=36 |issue=19–20 |pages=9725–9748 |doi=10.1177/0886260519872306 |pmid=31455143 |s2cid=201656101}} a self-reported questionnaire that assesses identification with the aggressor based on the theory of Sándor Ferenczi. Utilizing the IAS, various quantitative studies among survivors of child abuse and intimate partner violence have documented the phenomenon of identification with the aggressor and revealed its negative implications for survivors’ well-being. These implications include dissociation, self-injurious behavior, urges to harm others, violent acts toward others,{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Allende |first2=Santiago |last3=Talmon |first3=Anat |last4=Spiegel |first4=David |date=13 July 2020 |title=Identification with the Aggressor and Inward and Outward Aggression in Abuse Survivors |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342912125_Identification_With_the_Aggressor_and_Inward_and_Outward_Aggression_in_Abuse_Survivors |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=37 |issue=5–6 |pages=2705–2728 |doi=10.1177/0886260520938516 |pmid=32659159 |s2cid=220521706}} suicidal ideation and behavior,{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |date=3 September 2021 |title=Suicidality in Childhood Abuse Survivors – The Contribution of Identification with the Aggressor |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354334644_Suicidality_in_Childhood_Abuse_Survivors_-_The_Contribution_of_identification_with_the_aggressor |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |pages=804–810 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.138 |pmid=34706450}} willingness to return to an abusive relationship,{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |year=2022 |title=Hyper-sensitivity to the Perpetrator and the Likelihood of Returning to Abusive Relationships |url=https://www.researchgate.net/search?q=Hyper-sensitivity%20to%20the%20Perpetrator%20and%20the%20Likelihood%20of%20Returning%20to%20Abusive%20Relationships |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=38 |issue=1–2 |pages=1815–1841 |doi=10.1177/08862605221092075 |pmid=35499214|pmc=9709555 }} eating disorders,{{cite journal |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Tamar |last2=Lahav |first2=Yael |last3=Ginzburg |first3=Karni |year=2023 |title=Child abuse and eating disorder symptoms: Shedding light on the contribution of identification with the aggressor |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366086200_Child_abuse_and_eating_disorder_symptoms_Shedding_light_on_the_contribution_of_identification_with_the_aggressor |journal=Child Abuse & Neglect |volume=135 |page=105988 |doi=10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105988 |pmid=36493509}} feelings of guilt,{{cite journal |last1=Siegel |first1=Alana |last2=Shaked |first2=Elit |last3=Lahav |first3=Yael |year=2022 |title=A complex relationship: Intimate partner violence, identification with the aggressor, and guilt |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365431625_A_Complex_Relationship_Intimate_Partner_Violence_Identification_With_the_Aggressor_and_Guilt |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=30 |pages=445–459 |doi=10.1177/10778012221137917 |pmid=36380616}} sexual re-victimization,{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Ginzburg |first2=Karni |last3=Talmon |first3=Anat |last4=Spiegel |first4=David |date=July–September 2019 |title=Reenacting Past Abuse – Identification with the Aggressor and Sexual Revictimization |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330968729_Reenacting_Past_Abuse_-_Identification_with_the_Aggressor_and_Sexual_Revictimization |journal=Journal of Trauma & Dissociation |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=378–391 |doi=10.1080/15299732.2019.1572046 |pmid=30734655 |s2cid=73435528}} as well as PTSD and CPTSD.{{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Cloitre |first2=Marylene |last3=Hyland |first3=Philip |last4=Shevlin |first4=Mark |last5=Ben-Ezra |first5=Menachem |last6=Karatzias |first6=Thanos |year=2025 |title=Complex PTSD and identification with the aggressor among survivors of childhood abuse |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387262510_Complex_PTSD_and_identification_with_the_aggressor_among_survivors_of_childhood_abuse |journal=Child Abuse & Neglect |volume=160 |page=107196 |doi=10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107196 |pmid=39700595}}

• Internalized oppression
• Masters of suspicion
• Self-deception
• Self-sabotage
• Stockholm syndrome
• Repetition compulsion

• Fight Club
• Heauton Timorumenos (Terence)
• [http://www.public-domain-poetry.com/charles-baudelaire/heautontimoroumenos-8995 Heautontimoroumenos] (Charles Baudelaire)
• H. R. Giger
• Alien (franchise)
• "Mr. Self Destruct" (Nine Inch Nails)

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Frankel |first=Jay |title=Exploring Ferenczi's Concept of Identification with the Aggressor: Its Role in Trauma, Everyday Life, and the Therapeutic Relationship |journal=Psychoanalytic Dialogues |date=2002 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=101–139 |doi=10.1080/10481881209348657 |s2cid=144951828}}
• {{cite journal |last=Howell |first=Elizabeth F. |title=Ferenczi's concept of identification with the aggressor: understanding dissociative structure with interacting victim and abuser self-states |journal=The American Journal of Psychoanalysis |date=March 2014 |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=48–59 |pmid=24603172 |doi=10.1057/ajp.2013.40 |s2cid=5576292}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Ginzburg |first2=Karni |last3=Talmon |first3=Anat |last4=Spiegel |first4=David |authorlink4=David Spiegel |title=Reenacting Past Abuse – Identification with the Aggressor and Sexual Revictimization |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330968729 |journal=Journal of Trauma & Dissociation |date=July–September 2019 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=378–391 |pmid=30734655 |doi=10.1080/15299732.2019.1572046 |s2cid=73435528}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Talmon |first2=Anat |last3=Ginzburg |first3=Karni |title=Knowing the abuser inside and out: The development and psychometric evaluation of the Identification with the Aggressor Scale |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335449882 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |date=August 27, 2019 |volume=36 |issue=19–20 |pages=9725–9748 |pmid=31455143 |doi=10.1177/0886260519872306 |s2cid=201656101}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lahav |first1=Yael |last2=Allende |first2=Santiago |last3=Talmon |first3=Anat |last4=Spiegel |first4=David |title=Identification with the Aggressor and Inward and Outward Aggression in Abuse Survivors |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342912125 |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |date=July 13, 2020 |volume=37 |issue=5–6 |pages=2705–2728 |pmid=32659159 |doi=10.1177/0886260520938516 |s2cid=220521706}}

{{Defence mechanisms}}

Category:Conformity

Category:Defence mechanisms

Category:Psychoanalytic terminology

Category:1930s neologisms