Projective identification

Projective identification is a term introduced by Melanie Klein and then widely adopted in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Projective identification may be used as a type of defense, a means of communicating, a primitive form of relationship, or a route to psychological change;^[1] used for ridding the self of unwanted parts or for controlling the other's body and mind.^[2]

According to the American Psychological Association, the expression can have two meanings:

In psychoanalysis, projective identification is a defense mechanism in which the individual projects qualities that are unacceptable to the self onto another person, and that person introjects the projected qualities and believes him/herself to be characterized by them appropriately and justifiably.
In the object relations theory of Melanie Klein, projective identification is a defense mechanism in which a person fantasizes that part of their ego is split off and projected into the object in order to harm or to protect the disavowed part.^[3] In a close relationship, as between parent and child, lovers, or therapist and patient, parts of the self may, in unconscious fantasy, be forced into the other person.^[4]

While based on Freud's concept of psychological projection,^[5] projective identification represents a step beyond. In R.D. Laing's words, "The one person does not use the other merely as a hook to hang projections on. He/she strives to find in the other, or to induce the other to become, the very embodiment of projection".^[6] Feelings which cannot be consciously accessed are defensively projected into another person in order to evoke the thoughts or feelings projected.^[7]

^ Quoted in Jan Grant and Jim Crawley, Transference and Projection(Buckingham 2002), p. 31
^ Patrick Casement, On Learning from the Patient (1985) p. 100n
^ American Psychological Association, Dictionary of Psychology.
^ Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1990) p. 177
^ Projective identification
^ R. D. Laing, Self and Others (Penguin 1969) p. 111
^ Michael Jacobs, Psychodynamic Counselling in Action (London 2006), p. 109

[1] Quoted in Jan Grant and Jim Crawley, Transference and Projection(Buckingham 2002), p. 31

[2] Patrick Casement, On Learning from the Patient (1985) p. 100n

[3] American Psychological Association, Dictionary of Psychology.

[4] Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1990) p. 177

[5] Projective identification

[6] R. D. Laing, Self and Others (Penguin 1969) p. 111

[7] Michael Jacobs, Psychodynamic Counselling in Action (London 2006), p. 109

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