ABSTRACT
By means of a new defensive process identification with the aggressor is succeeded by an active assault on the outside world. Even when the external criticism has been introjected, the threat of punishment and the offense committed have not yet been connected up in the patient’s mind. The moment the criticism is internalized, the offense is externalized. This means that the mechanism of identification with the aggressor is supplemented by another defensive measure, namely, the projection of guilt. This chapter represents, on the one hand, a preliminary phase of superego development and, on the other, an intermediate stage in the development of paranoia. It resembles the former in the mechanism of identification and the latter in that of projection. When analysis brings into the patient’s consciousness genuine, unconscious, aggressive impulses, the dammed-up affect will seek relief through abreaction in the transference.
