ABSTRACT
Projective identification seems to be a more primitive process than either projection or identification. The author describes a patient who seems to illustrate very well the sort of transference problems that the process of projective identification poses for the analysts, when such projective identification happens on a massive scale. Melanie Klein believes that projective identification occurs essentially in relation to the ‘good parts of the self and the ‘bad part of the self—in other words, that it occurs in relation to those inner objects towards which there exists an unconscious attitude and judgement. Analysts who believe that projective identification can happen only with persons who are severely regressed and primitive seem to infer that an ego structure is either present or absent or at most either weak or strong. Projective identification also provides the basis of the earliest form of symbol formation. The presence of projective identification in the analytic situation is revealed in the transference/countertransference relationship.
