ABSTRACT
Mrs Klein,137 in discussing the depressive position, makes the strong point that it is part-and-parcel of the depressive position that projective identifications are gradually withdrawn, allowing for the more realistic perception of the mother as a whole object. She does not go into details as to how this is accomplished. She accounts for it partly by the infant’s growing capacity to perceive the object through time and to have a growing awareness of the real qualities of the
object. I think concern for the object also plays an important part, since projective identification attacks the integrity and identity of the object. In turn, the whole-object relationship militates towards the withdrawal of projections.
