Concept
Intrusive identification
Meltzer's name for the omnipotent, unconscious phantasy of forcing one's way into an internal object, above all the internal mother, in order to possess her qualities and escape the pains of dependence and separateness. First described in his 1966 paper on anal masturbation, where it produces a pseudo-mature identity confused with the object, it was set apart in The Claustrum (1992) from the communicative projective identification described by Bion, in which feelings are put into an object to be understood. Its consequence is life inside the object, in the claustrum.
Read more- Broader concept
- Projective identification
- Introduced by
- Donald Meltzer
- Key works
- 1
- Related
introduced by
- Donald Meltzer 1966 The idea goes back to Meltzer's 1966 paper on anal masturbation and projective identification. In The Claustrum (1992) he named it intrusive identification, setting it apart from the communicative projective identification of Bion's container.
gave rise to
- Claustrum The claustrum is the inner space that intrusive identification creates: the part of the self that has forced its way into the internal mother lives there, trapped in the claustrophobic world of the compartment it entered.
diverges from
- Container–contained Meltzer reserves 'projective identification' for Bion's communicative projection into a receptive container. Intrusive identification is its omnipotent counterpart: it enters the object by force, takes over its inside and does not seek understanding.