Projective Identification: An Alternative Hypothesis
- 1 July 1987
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
- Vol. 56 (3) , 431-451
- https://doi.org/10.1080/21674086.1987.11927182
Abstract
The concept of projective identification as a primitive defense mechanism is reassessed. An alternative hypothesis is offered: that projective identification can best be understood as a compromise formation which includes as its major component an "identification with the aggressor" or a "turning of passive into active." This reversal is demonstrated within a two-tiered transference/countertransference of the analyst as powerful parent and the patient as the helpless child. On the deeper level the patient enacts the role of dominant parent and the analyst experiences the feelings which the patient had felt as a child.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- On Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Observations.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 1983
- Defense and Defense MechanismsPublished by Taylor & Francis ,1981
- Psychic Conflict and the Concept of DefenseThe Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1981