projective identification

Though a difficult concept for the conscious mind to come to terms with,Priscilla Roth, 'Projective Identification', in S. Budd/R.Rusbridger eds., Introducing Psychoanalysis (2005) p. 200 since its primitive nature makes its operation or interpretation seem more like magic or art than science,Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1990) p. 8 projective identification is nonetheless a powerful tool of interpersonal communication.

The recipient of the projection may suffer a loss of both identity and insight as they are caught up in and manipulated by the other person's fantasy.R. D. Laing, Self and Others (Penguin 1969) p. 37 One therapist, for example, describes how "I felt the progressive extrusion of his internalized mother into me, not as a theoretical construct but in actual experience. The intonation of my voice altered became higher with the distinctly Ur-mutter quality."David Cooper, The Death of the Family (Penguin 1974) p. 113–4 However, should one manage to accept and understand the projection, one will obtain much insight into the projector.

Projective identification differs from the simple projection in that projective identification can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby a person, believing something false about another, influences or coerces that other person to carry out that precise projection.Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson, The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge 1977) p. 227 In extreme cases, the recipient may lose any sense of their real self and become reduced to the passive carrier of outside projections as if possessed by them.T. Pitt-Aikens/A. T. Ellis, Loss of the Good Authority (London 1989) p. 120 and p. 133 This phenomenon has been noted in gaslighting (see Introjection § Gaslighting).{{cite journal|last=Dorpat|first=Theo. L.|year=1994|title=On the double whammy and gaslighting|url=http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1995-25157-001|journal=Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy|volume=11|issue=1|pages=91–96|id={{INIST|4017777}}|url-access=subscription}} {{closed access}}

The objects (feelings, attitudes) extruded in projective identification are of various kinds – both good and bad, ideal and abjected.

Hope may be projected by a client into their therapist, when they can no longer consciously feel it themselves;Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1990) p. 121-2 equally, it may be a fear of (psychic) dying which is projected.Michael Parsons, The Dove that Returns, the Dove that Vanishes (2000) p. 166

Aggression may be projected, leaving the projector's personality diminished and reduced;R. Appignanesi ed., Introducing Melanie Klein (2006) p. 127 alternatively it may be desire, leaving the projector feeling asexual.Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1990) p. 69–73

The good/ideal parts of the personality may be projected, leading to dependence upon the object of identification;Rosalind Minsky, Psychoanalysis and Gender (1998) p. 86-7 equally it may be jealousy or envy that are projected, perhaps by the therapist into the client.Neville Symington, Narcissism: A New Theory (1993) p. 11–2

Projective identification may take place with varying degrees of intensity.{{cite web | first=Robert D. | last=Hinshelwood | author-link=R. D. Hinshelwood | title=Projective Identification | url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/projective-identification | access-date=29 March 2022}} In less disturbed personalities, projective identification is not only a way of getting rid of feelings but also of getting help with them.{{cite book | first=Patrick | last=Casement | author-link=Patrick Casement | title=Further Learning from the Patient | location=London | year=1990 | pages=98–9}} In narcissism, extremely powerful projections may take place and obliterate the distinction between self and other.{{cite book | first=Hanna | last=Segal |author-link=Hanna Segal | title=Klein | year=1979 | pages=116–9}}

Various types of projective identification have been distinguished over the years:

• Acquisitive projective identification – where someone takes on the attributes of someone else – versus attributive projective identification, where someone induces someone else to become one's own projection.John Rowan and Michael Jacobs, The Therapist's Use of Self (Buckingham 2002) p. 42
• Projective counter-identification – where the therapist unwittingly assumes the feelings and roles projected outward by the patient, to the point where they identify or unwittingly act out this role within the therapeutic setting Grinberg L (1962) On a specific aspect of countertransference due to the patient's projective identification (In Classics of Psychoanalytical Technique)
• Dual projective identification – a concept introduced by Joan Lachkar. It primarily occurs when both partners in a relationship simultaneously project onto one another. Both deny the projections, both identify with those projections.The Narcissistic/Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Marital Treatment (1st ed.). New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1992. {{ISBN|0-87630-634-2}}

A division has also been made between normal projective identification and pathological projective identification, where what is projected is splintered into minute pieces before the projection takes place.Hanna Segal,Introduction to the work of Melanie Klein (London 1964), p. 42-3

As with transference and countertransference, projective identification can be a potential key to therapeutic understanding, especially where the therapist is able to tolerate and contain the unwanted, negative aspects of the patient's self over time.Harold Stewart, Psychic Experience and Problems of Technique (London 1992), p. 134

Transactional analysis emphasizes the need for the therapist's "Adult" (an ego state directed towards an objective appraisal of reality) to remain uncontaminated if the experience of the client's projective identification is to be usefully understood.Petruska Clarkson, On Psychotherapy (London 1993), p. 180 and p. 184

A prior study demonstrated how counsellors may identify and clinically use client projective identification. Also, the three connected phenomena of transference, countertransference, and projective identification are addressed as the foundation for the therapist's successful application of the self as a tool in treatment. This is a three-phase therapy procedure that highlights the significance of the timing of treatments.{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Robert C. |date=1990-03-01 |title=Projective identification and the therapist's use of self |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00946020 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=63–73 |doi=10.1007/BF00946020 |issn=1573-3564|url-access=subscription }} The phases are splitting by the client, the therapist gradually obtaining the thing split, then the therapist identifying with it. Therapists also practice using a three-phase process, by detecting projective identification, demonstrating understanding and professionalism, then intervening based on it.{{Rp|page=70}}

Relationship problems have been linked to the way there can be a division of emotional labour in a couple, by way of projective identification, with one partner carrying projected aspects of the other for them.Adam Phillips, On Flirtation (London 1994), p. 5 Thus one partner may carry all the aggression or all the competence in the relationship, the other all the vulnerability.R. Skynner/J. Cleese, Families and how to survive them (1993) p. 47–54

Jungians describe the resultant dynamics as characterising a so-called "wounded couple" – projective identification ensuring that each carries the most ideal or the most primitive parts of their counterpart.Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson eds., The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge 1997) p. 237 The two partners may initially have been singled out for that very readiness to carry parts of each other's self; but the projected inner conflicts/division then come to be replicated in the partnership itself.Polly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson eds., The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge 1997) p. 227

Conscious resistance to such projective identificationPolly Young-Eisendrath and Terence Dawson eds., The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge 1997) p. 227 may produce on the one side guilt for refusing to enact the projection,R. D. Laing, Self and Others (Penguin 1969) p. 111 on the other bitter rage at the thwarting of the projection.Neville Symington, Narcissism: A New Theory (London 1993) p. 101

{{Portal|Psychology

}}{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Bizarre object
• Codependency
• Donald Meltzer
• Emotional contagion
• {{Section link|Gaslighting|Psychoanalytic_explanation}}
• Guilt trip
• Identification (psychology)
• Introjection
• Role suction
• Transference
• Wilfred Bion

}}

{{ Reflist|2|}}

• R. D. Hinshelwood, A Dictionary of Kleinian Thought (London 1989)
• E. B. Spillius, Melanie Klein Today, 2 vols. (London 1988)
• Michael Rustin, The Good Society and the Inner World (1990)
• Nancy McWilliams, Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (New York 1994)

• [http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/projective_identification.htm Projective Identification.] Changingminds.org.
• Young, R. M.: [http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/paper3h.html Benign and virulent projective identification.]
• Schwartz, Wynn: [http://freedomliberationreaction.blogspot.com/2015/07/projective-identification.html Demystifying Projective Identification.]

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Category:Psychoanalytic terminology