06 - Kleinian defences

Kleinian defences:

© SPMM Course Kleinian defences: (SIPDOG – splitting, introjection, projective identification, denial, omnipotence, grandiosity) Splitting: It is seen most often in those with borderline personality. Here qualities of an object or person are split into black and white i.e. either good or bad with no grey area in between. SPLITTING Conflict Result Process Overwhelming experience of negative qualities of oneself or positive qualities of others Idealization alternating with devaluation (denigration) Stripping off either all positive or all negative qualities of others

Idealisation and denigration: These two are often accompanied by splitting in those with borderline traits. Here an object is either glorified, and supremacy is ascribed (idealised, omnipotence ascribed) or considered very negatively and cursed! (Denigration). Psychiatrists are treating such patients often experience phases of both idealisation and denigration. Projective identification: It is a Kleinian defence. Here an aspect of self is projected onto someone else. The projector influences the recipient to identify with what has been projected and projector herself now believes that the aspect originated from the reactor. This may result in the recipient behaving in a manner similar to the projector. Now the projector identifies his feelings as reactions to the recipient’s aggression (identification of the origin, but wrongly attributed to the other person). (Please read psychoanalytic psychology for further explanation). It may be seen in psychotic paranoid states. PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION Conflict Result Process Hostility, hate and anger Ideas of reference, prejudice, suspiciousness, injustice Converting own hostile impulses to justifiable reactions to the hostility expressed by others

Ogden’s model divides projective identification into three steps.  Step 1 is the projection of a part of oneself onto an external object. Step 1a is the blurring of self and object representations (may or may not be seen).  Step 2 is an interpersonal interaction in which the projector actively pressures the recipient to think, feel, and act in accordance with the projection.  Step 3 is the reinternalization of the projection after the recipient has psychologically processed it Note that step 3 is absent while step 2 is not necessary to define ‘projection’. Projective identification has manifold aims: – It may be directed toward the ideal object to avoid separation, or it may be directed toward the bad object to gain control of the source of danger.