ABSTRACT
This is an area of much development. Klein's followers have made very little change in her basic conceptions of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, but, as they have continued to explore psychosis, narcissism, borderline states, addiction, sexual perversion, and perverse character structure, they have developed richer and more complex ideas about the defensive arrangements in these various pathologies. The idea of 'pathological organizations' has been gradually evolved as a central concept to order the clinical phenomena encountered. Many authors have contributed to the development of the concept, and the word 'organization' has been in use for some time, first as 'narcissistic organization' (Rosenfeld and Sohn), then as 'defensive organization' (O'Shaughnessy). More recently John Steiner has used the term 'pathological organization' which is now being generally adopted.
