ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on repair in groups, a complicated concept to grapple with as well as a difficult process to implement, mainly because it involves the “taking back of projections” on the part of many people. One way to think about changing the mindset of a group of people is to consider Melanie Klein’s positions, which in this case involve a shift from the paranoid-schizoid position, wherein people project unwanted aspects of their group onto another group. In the second position, the depressive position, that which has been projected is now “owned” in new ways by those who originally needed to cast off intolerable aspects of themselves.
While a daunting undertaking, the taking back of projections can be achieved with the right kind of leadership. When massive aggression is absorbed by someone in authority who can metabolize these feelings and “give them back” in a more acceptable and less affectively charged manner, change can occur.
This type of process took place after the Rwandan genocide: vast amounts of aggression were metabolized by leaders who helped people deal with their rage in acceptable ways that led to reconciliation. This demonstrated a shift from the paranoid-schizoid position to the depressive position and allowed former enemies to come together to repair their severely damaged relationships.
