Projective Identification and Countertransference Interventions: Since Feeling is First

Projective identification cannot be discussed without first granting that it is ill-defined and often misinterpreted. Yet it holds a certain mystique for most of us who do therapy. We keep discussing and redefining projective identification because we want to truly grasp what is happening in a session when we are deeply, and perhaps suddenly, seized by an intense feeling that we were not expecting to have. We know that our affective experience is a response to the patient we are treating, but often we are uncertain about the reason for, or the origin of, our feeling. Has the patient stimulated something in us that was lying dormant, waiting to be awakened, or is he simply “depositing” his feelings in us? Is the experience of intense affect as precipitous as it often seems or is it the culmination of a series of communications between therapist and patient?

We are also curious about the patient's intent. Is the patient trying to communicate with us, trying to rid himself of unbearable feelings, or trying to hurt or seduce us? Is there a primary motive or is the projection of strong affect usually multi-determined? Is the patient communicating with us and thereby facilitating the treatment, or is he trying to defeat us by forcing us to experience and possibly act on the most destructive feelings that he can muster? Recent discussions of projective identification focus on these questions in an attempt to solve the riddle of projective identification,