Projection and Externalisation*

Projection is one of the more frequently used terms in psychoanalytic literature, especially in clinical presentations. It is seen by some authors as fundamental to all clinical work. Rapaport (1944) states that the fundamental psychoanalytic postulates of psychic determinism and continuity require a concept like that of projection.

Projection was one of the first concepts developed by Freud and a detailed analysis of the topic can be found as early as 1895. It is a measure of the complexity of the topic that despite the history of its usage there remains considerable confusion and disagreement as to the meaning and applicability of the term. Currently, the most widely accepted definition of projection is, “viewing a mental image as objective reality” (Rycroft, 1968). This definition is one which pre-dates Freud (Feigenbaum, 1936). In the current literature projection is used as a portmanteau term encompassing such diverse processes as displacement, generalisation, externalisation and some processes of adaptive mastery. A host of phenomena is described as subject to the process of projection: drives, introjects, aspects of the self, affects, sensations and structures such as super-ego and id. Projection is said to be manifest in such varied areas as play, artistic creation, religion, projective tests and persecutory delusions. Used in this way the term lacks explanatory power and significant clinical distinctions are blurred. The lack of a proper terminology perpetuates the problem. In recent years there have been attempts to differentiate some of the processes heretofore subsumed under projection. In particular the concept of externalisation has been the focus of increased attention (Brody, 1965; Rapaport, 1944, 1950, 1952; Weiss, 1947). This however has added a terminological difficulty since those who write about externalisation tend to use it synonymously with projection, and it is not clear whether externalisation is viewed as a subspecies of projection, as a pr