“… all her actions have to be listened to as if they were dreams …”

The way out of severe states of projective identification may at times be full of trying difficulties. Some of these difficulties have already been examined in previous chapters. New ones will be now closely looked into. A particularly strong drive to act-out led Meltzer to advise to sometimes listen to reports of actions as if they were dreams, and therefore, to interpret actions as if they were dreams. This seems to enable the analyst to better approach aspects of the analysand’s personality which may otherwise remain recalcitrant to alternative approaches.

The ways in which projective identification may hinder mourning is further discussed. It is hoped that this new though brief discussion may make the issue clearer.