The unlikely alembic, or rather the strange case of projective identification

• Main Author: Gian Paolo Scano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2020-02-01
• Series: Ricerca Psicoanalitica
• Subjects: Projective identification; epistemology; transference and countertransference; intersubjectivity; therapeutic relationship
• Online Access: https://www.pagepress.org/socialsciences/rp/article/view/219

The widely shared view that projective identification describes omnipresent and easily observable phenomena proves to be unfounded. On the contrary, the analysis reveals a concept based on a bizarre epistemology, which, from a theoretical point of view, seems to contradict the current concepts of transference and countertransference, which are based on the same clinical reference material. Projective identification, rather than describing a phenomenon and a mysterious psychic performance of the therapeutic couple, aims to improperly solve the most serious problem of traditional theory which, built on the assumption of the intrapsychic point of view, struggles to account for the intersubjective substance of the therapeutic relationship. By treating interactions as if they were intrapsychic processes, it allows to circumvent the need to modify the basic theoretical framework, avoiding the problem of establishing which theoretical and clinical changes would be necessary to face, if one were to accept the assert that the object of theory and therapy are interactions and not the intrapsychic experiences of the isolated mind.