This is the second of a two-part article on projective identification, which the author defines as “an unconscious phantasy in which split-off parts of the self are disowned, projected, and attributed to someone else,” with the unconscious intent to “control and/or influence the thinking, feeling, and/or action of the object” (p. 159). The author purposefully excludes any interpersonal or countertransferential aspects from this definition, reasoning that whether and how much the object experiences the pressure of the projection in part depends on the object. This view privileges the unconscious intent of the projector, which the analyst can discern “based on clinical evidence” (p. 159).

In the first part of this article, which appeared in Volume XIII, Number 2 , the author provided a detailed history of the use of the term projective identification and a persuasive argument for the author's definition of the term. Here in the second part of the article, the author uses two clinical vignettes to show how the