Object relations theory: Difference between revisions

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| isbn = 978-0-87668-446-7}}</ref> identifies four functions that projective identification may serve. As in the traditional Kleinian model, it serves as a defense. Projective identification serves as a mode of communication. It is a form of object relations, and "a pathway for psychological change."<ref name="Ogden 77" />{{rp|21}} As a form of object relationship, projective identification is a way of relating with others who are not seen as entirely separate from the individual. Instead, this relating takes place "between the stage of the subjective object and that of true object relatedness".<ref name="Ogden 77" />{{rp|23}}

===The paranoidParanoid-schizoid and depressive positions===

{{main|paranoidParanoid-schizoid and depressive positions}}

The positions of Kleinian theory, underlain by unconscious phantasy, are stages in the normal development of ego and object relationships, each with its own characteristic defenses and organizational structure. The paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions occur in the pre-oedipal, oral phase of development.

In contrast to Fairbairn and later Guntrip,<ref>{{cite book|author=Guntrip, H. (|date=1975). ''|title=Schizoid phenomena, object relations and the self''. |___location=Madison, CT: |publisher=International Universities Press. |p. =21.}}</ref> Klein believed that both good and bad objects are introjected by the infant, the internalization of good objects being essential to the development of healthy ego function.<ref name="Klein 1946" />{{rp|4}} Klein conceptualized the depressive position as "the most mature form of psychological organization", which continues to develop throughout the life span.<ref name="Ogden 1989">{{cite book

| last = Ogden

| first = Thomas H.

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| year = 1989

| ___location = Northvale, NJ

| isbn = 978-0-87668-982-0}}.</ref>{{rp|11}}

The depressive position occurs during the second quarter of the first year.<ref name="Klein 1946" />{{rp|14}} Prior to that the infant is in the paranoid-schizoid position, which is characterized by persecutory anxieties and the mechanisms of splitting, projection, introjection, and omnipotence—which includes idealizing and denial—to defend against these anxieties.<ref name="Klein 1946" />{{rp|7}} Depressive and paranoid-schizoid modes of experience continue to intermingle throughout the first few years of childhood.