ABSTRACT
Projective identification, which is the subject of this chapter, is central to the understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which transference and countertransference take place. It is the process whereby unconscious communication takes place, and that it arises from the need to communicate unbearable feelings to someone who can or will bear them. In its most destructive form, it is used to discharge feelings and aspects of self so that the person into whom they are discharged becomes the one in whom the unwanted aspects are located and who is then treated as the bad, nasty, object. In its more constructive form, it is an attempt to communicate distress to another person so that the recipient will feel the distress but be able to tolerate it and think about it and offer some understanding of what may be behind the need to discharge the feelings. The chapter provides the examples for these forms.
