ABSTRACT
The functioning of internal pathological organizations is discussed. These defensive structures aim to control the ego and, often using perverse methods, psychotic anxiety, not least unthinkable anxieties originating in trauma. Central to their influence in the mind can be the role of narcissism. The greater the presence of submission to an idealized narcissistic object, the more profound the dread of object loss and the greater the activity of the pathological organization. Contributions to the thinking on pathological organizations are cited, including the work of Klein, Fairbairn, Rosenfeld, Meltzer and Bion. Clinical examples of the difficulty in treating individuals suffering from the impact of a pathological organization, and encroachment of psychotic anxieties, are given.
