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child projects his/her distress into the mother who ‘contains’ it and can then respond appropriately. The analyst has the same (containing/’alpha’) function: ‘containing’ the patient’s projections in a state of ‘reverie’, ‘digesting’ them and responding with appropriate interpretations. In this vein, countertransference was seen as not only an instrument through which the analyst could gain access to the patient´s unconscious world, but also a medium through which the patient´s intolerable experiences could be processed; it is not only an instrument of investigation, but also a curing medium. Bion’s development of the notions of containment and alpha-function in the analyst have led to a keen appreciation of the infusion of the analyst’s mind, affects and even body ego with the analysand’s unconscious and preconscious processes. (See the separate entry CONTAINMENT: CONTAINER/CONTAINED) In its further development, the concept of projective identification has continued to maintain a significant role in Kleinian, Bionian and neo-Bionian theory, and in many of the intersubjective and interpersonal perspectives. As it became extended from the theory of primitive fantasy and defense into the theory of archaic communication and thinking, the complexity of the relationship and differentiation between projective identification and the analyst’s own countertransference became considerable (Grotstein 1994). The mutual and creative constructions of meanings in the works of Bion, Rosenfeld, and their later progeny Mawson (2010), within the transference-countertransference exchanges, present a complex process whereby the analyst must work over the induced affect states in order to see their communicative aspect. Such projections may illuminate for the analyst, via his/her countertransference, which affect states the patient is struggling with and communicating. In the work of Alvarez (1992), this perspective further expands to a view of the whole analytic process as co- constructed. The rich understanding of the power of intersubjective processes upon the analyst, analysand and treatment is deeply indebted to the evolution in Kleinian thought in Great Britain, from Klein, through Bion, (1959) and Rosenfeld, (1962, 1969, 1987), and the Argentinian school of Racker (1957, 1968) and Grinberg (1956, 1968). Various extensions of this perspective follow in the work of Segal, (1983), Joseph (1985), Spillius, (1994) and O’Shaughnessy (1990), Steiner (1994), Feldman (1993) and Britton (2004; Segal & Britton 1981) in Great Britain, and in the work of Grotstein (1994), Mitrani (1997, 2001) and others in the USA. Throughout, Ferenczi’s early writings on countertransference continued to be directly or indirectly influential. One of the central sources of Ferenczian ideas about countertransference, Michael Balint, the author of the concept of the ‘basic fault’ (Balint 1979), was also a serious contributor to the discussion about projection and introjection. Ferenczi’s radical ideas were brought to London by Michael and Alice Balint, and influenced both Kleinians and the so-called Independent group. Ferenczi and Balint’s ideas reached Latin America through Racker (1957). Racker utilized Ferenczi’s (1927, 1932) concept of identification with the aggressor within his concept of complementary identification (with the patient’s internal aggressive objects), and further elaborated on Balint’s views of countertransference within the hierarchical training institutions. Some of these same early ideas
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