By translating ‘Besetzung’ into English as ‘cathexis’, the multiplicity of the concept of ‘Besetzung’ has been lost. ‘Besetzung’ has a threefold meaning in German: it can be neutral in the sense of stating that a place is taken, negative in the sense of occupying a country or positive in the sense of someone casting a role in a film. The author examines the use of Besetzung and especially Objektbesetzung (object cathexis). The concept of object and self-Besetzung was an important new insight, which Abraham and Klein further developed.

According to Ogden, the earliest object relation is the autistic-contagious position. As a second, still very archaic relationship and before the paranoid-schizoid position, the author proposes ‘object Besetzung’. In an archaic form, object ‘Besetzung’ can be understood as ‘becoming the same with another object’. It leads to the fantasy of unity.

The theoretical considerations are clinically underpinned by an analysis of a girl who wanted to be a boy. The author argues that it is helpful to be aware of which of the three registers of ‘object Besetzung’ one is in, as this can be enormously helpful in orienting oneself in the transference and countertransference.