ABSTRACT
The concept of projective identification was introduced into analytic thinking by Melanie Klein in 1946. Since then it has been welcomed, argued about, the name disputed, the links with projection pointed out, and so on; but one aspect seems to stand out above the firing line, and that is its considerable clinical value. As the individual develops, either in normal development or through analytic treatment, these projections lessen, he becomes more able to tolerate his ambivalence, his love and hate and dependence on objects. Wilfred Bion demonstrated how projective identification can be used as a method of communication by the individual, who, as it were, puts undigested parts of his experience and inner world into the object, originally the mother, and now the analyst, as a way of getting them understood and returned in a more manageable form.
