ABSTRACT
This chapter explains why the concept of projective identification has often been a source of confusion among dynamically oriented psychotherapists. Projective identification has been defined alternatively with a focus upon the effect on the self, and at other times, in terms of its impact on the external object. Confusion has often resulted from not making clear which aspect of the process was being described. Wilfred R. Bion's description of projective identification puts major emphasis upon the interpersonal, as opposed to the intrapsychic, aspects of the transaction. It should be clear that the identification processes referred to in projective identification apply to both subject and the object, the projector and the target, to the intrapsychic as well as the interpersonal aspects. Although the process starts with a person projecting a part of his self onto and into one or more other persons, it is the impact of the projected contents affecting the other person which is of special interest.
