ABSTRACT
For the purpose of illustrating a current trend of our researches into the intimate connexion between projective identification and anal masturbation, I have chosen to describe the transference manifestations of a type of character disorder seen with relative frequency among the many intelligent, gifted and outwardly successful people who seek analysis, namely of 'pseudomaturity'. The concept of projective identification, first described by Melanie Klein, has opened the way to a new fruitful investigation of hitherto unexplored aspects of anality. By demonstrating how projective identification with internal objects is induced by anal masturbation, a richer conception of the derivation and significance of the narcissistic evaluation of faeces is unfolded, thus linking the anal phase more surely to symptom and character pathology.
