” … by the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes.”

(William Shakespear’s “MacBeth”).

Introduction.

When I first chose this topic, I thought that I understood what projective identification was about; it was a feeling that the counsellor experienced whilst working with a client, sometimes a weird one and perhaps seeming unconnected the client work. I was remembering only half of the process. What I was not remembering was the client’s own part in this and why they might be doing it as the one that initiates the process. Yet also the client can remain totally oblivious to this unconscious impact on the counsellor.

This paper demonstrates my further understanding of projective identification as part of a counselling relationship.

A definition of projective identification.

I was surprised to find that Penguin’s “A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis” (Rycroft, 1995) does not have a separate entry for Projective Identification. Searching deeper into the book I found an entry under “Identification” (p. 76) indicating that projective identification is a part of Identification:-

“Identification is the process by which a person either (a) extends his identity into someone else, (b) borrows his identity from someone else, or (c) fuses or confuses his identity with someone else.”

There are four types of identification:

1) Primary Identification: the individual has yet to distinguish his identity from that of his objects – it is presumed that this happens in infancy. The distinction between “I” and “you” does not yet exist. (This is seen as normal development and not a defence).

2) Secondary Identification: the process of identifying with an object that has been identified as a separate thing. (This is seen as a defence as it reduces anxiety between the self and the object and enables separation to begin).

3) Projective identification: the process by which a person imagines himself to be inside some external object (again, seen as a defence as it creates illusion of control over the object and to deny the self’s powerlessness over the object ).

4) Introjective identification: the process whereby the object is imagined to be inside and part of the self

– Summarised from “Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis”, (Rycroft 1995 p76).

Projective Identification also has a relationship with projection:

Projection: Viewing a mental image as objective reality (…) the process by which specific impulse, wishes, aspects of the self are imagined to be located in some object external to oneself.

– Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, (Rycroft, 1995 p139).

Quoting Michael Jacobs: “Projection and projective identification are reckoned in psychodynamic theory to be early (or “primitive”) defences, although in the early weeks of life they are through to be natural defences against overwhelming pain or terror, occurring as feelings and experiences pass almost without barriers between mother and baby” (Jacobs, 1998).

My understanding of Klein’s early infant development theories suggests to me that descriptions of early paranoid-schizoid position (ego is split into good and bad and destructive impulses are projected into a bad object, then feeling persecuted by that object) are very like descriptions of secondary and projective identification.

To take a description from “Introduction to the work of Melanie Klein” (Segal, 1973), Segal quotes Klein saying:-

“When the mechanisms of projection, introjection, splitting, idealization, denial and projective & introjective identification fail to master anxiety, and the ego is invaded by it, then disintegration of the ego may occur as a defensive measure, The ego fragments and splits itself into little bits in order to avoid the experience of anxiety, This mechanism, grossly damaging to the ego, usually appears combined with projective identification, the fragmented part of the ego being immediately projected.

Now, although the definitions and description above give an idea on what projective identification is about, they don’t seem to me to really describe the feelings or experiences around projective identification. I found an example from Klein’s work (Segal 1973, p 77) that seems to explain the process in more vivid terms and I have summarised it here:-

Analysis of a little girl of four (“Ann”).

Ann would find the approaching holidays traumatic as they represented a break in her treatment. In sessions nearer the break, Ann began behaving like a mother towards Klein. Ann had been poorly at an earlier time, but in recent sessions she treated Klein as though Klein was the poorly little girl. Ann was going to look after her (like “mother”). However, instead of being a good mother, Ann was a bad mother: she treated Klein with presents that Klein was not supposed to want, and refused to feed Klein when Klein was hungry. During the session Ann would pretend to go “out to a show” which would leave Klein alone.

Klein’s interpretation was that Ann herself was being “put into” Klein (the projection) i.e. the poorly little girl, and Ann’s behaviour towards the poorly little girl (the identification part) was a communication of Ann’s experience of her own mother’s treatment when she had been poorly.

If I imagine Klein initially not knowing the details or interpretation behind Ann’s behaviour at the start, I might imagine Klein feeling something of the following:-

• Klein was feeling like a very bad little girl for getting poorly.
  
• She was not supposed to like any gifts (goodness) given to her.
  
• She was to experience hunger and not know when she might be fed.
  
• She was to feel isolated.
  
• She would not know why she was feeling so bad; she might wonder why “mother” was treating her so badly. She had done nothing “wrong” except to fall ill.
  

It is at times when we get these feelings that don’t seem belong to us. This suggests that something from the client is being communicated unconsciously to us and projective identification is one of those mechanisms of communication.

Purpose of projective identification.

Diagram from "Toddler Time" at http://www.toddlertime.com/

According to Klein and others, there are a number of purposes for projective identification:-

• When directed towards an idea object, projective identification is there as a defence to avoid separation from the object.
  
• When directed towards a bad object, projective identification is there to gain control over the source of danger.
  

Different parts of the self may be split off and projected:-

• Bad parts of the self are projected to get rid of them as well as to attack and destroy the object.
  
• Good parts of the self may be split off and projected to avoid separation or to keep them safe from a bad inside thing … “or to improve the external object via a kind of primitive projective reparation “(Segal , 1973)
  

Anxieties of being persecuted might suggest that the client is seeing his or her own “badness” but being experienced as the persecuting person’s own badness, not the self’s. Paranoia can be healthy, to quote Freud:

“The purpose of paranoia is (…) to ward off an idea that is incompatible with the ego, by projecting its substance into the external world.”

- Freud, 1895, ‘Draft H. Paranoia’

Projective Identification can produce two main anxieties:

• Fear that the attacked object will retaliate (Persecution, attacking).
  
• Anxiety of having parts of oneself imprisoned and controlled by the object.
  

Working with projective identification.

Illustrative Examples of client’s PI alive in the counsellor.

1) When working with a client you find that you very much like the client, you feel your ego is stroked positively and you feel like one of the best and most affective counsellors in the world. This could be a form of projective identification in that the client is projecting his or her split-off good self into you. Perhaps for the purpose of making you less scary, or to avoid the anxieties of separation; fear you might abandon the client.

2) Working with a female client in 2001, I found myself feeling quite sick (vomit) after most sessions. The sessions’ content appeared to me unrelated or having no ability to make me feel so sick. It wasn’t until some months of this repeating that my client let slip: “There are things I can’t tell you … bad things … they are unpalatable” which suggested to me that I may have been experiencing her “unpalatable-ness” through projective identification. In supervision we discussed how perhaps this might have been her splitting-off the bad and putting it into me, perhaps to see how well (and for how long) I might cope with her bad-ness

Projective identification in itself doesn’t give you reasons why it is taking place. The “staying with not knowing” rule still applies until understanding reveals itself in an opportunity for interpretation to the client.

Allowing for any possible leaning towards ideal examples from the authors of the material in the bibliography, I have observed one common working practice in the material quoted:-

Interpreting the projective identification lessens the client’s anxieties around the projection experience.

It has to be repeated that the client’s projective experience is very real, even though the experience may have little bearings on reality. The counsellor is seen by the client to contain the nasty or good parts of the client’s self even though it is the client’s self that the client is experiencing. So when projective identification is encountered, a counsellor’s responsibility will include:-

Holding on to the projection – practicing containment. As a defence, the projective identification is something that doesn’t need to be forced back into the client the moment it is encountered.

Over time as the counsellor gains understanding through reviewing his or her feelings and behaviour, considers information offered by the client and discusses it in supervision. There becomes room to make interpretations to the client as the therapeutic alliance and perhaps trial-identification may allow. We are advised in the psychodynamic model that this is best done without actually revealing any specific experiences of what the counsellor experienced in the projective identification (and maybe other material from the client’s sessions). Sometimes the client will not pick up the interpretation immediately. Yet, over time, the client becomes able to take back the projection of his or her own accord.

Summary.

Projective Identification is an unconscious defence that communicates parts of the self into a separate object. These split off parts are experienced as coming from inside the separate object, not from the self. The experience may be good / rewarding, or may be bad / persecuting. As counsellors we will experience feelings and behaviour of projective identification in forms of counter-transference. Containing these experiences and coming to understand what they may mean assists the counsellor in offering back the projections in an interpretative form which aim to promote the client’s understanding of themselves, to promote the client’s well being and to diminish anxiety.

Bibliography

Related Reading:

Skills in Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy (Skills in Counselling & Psychotherapy Series)Offers an introduction to psychodynamic practice. This book addresses the competencies and techniques identified as central to the delivery of effective psychodynamic practice. It is suitable for trainees on psychodynamic counseling and psychotherapy courses.

From Counselling Skills to Counsellor: A Psychodynamic Approach

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An Introduction to Psychodynamic Counselling (Basic Texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy)The first edition of this book explored the key assumptions, main theoretical ideas and principles of practice behind psychodynamic counselling. With ... Read More >

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