Article
Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms
First published in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis in 1946 and reprinted, revised, in Developments in Psycho-Analysis (1952), this paper is Melanie Klein's account of the months that precede the depressive position she had described in the 1930s. In this earliest phase the infant's anxiety is predominantly persecutory and its defences predominantly schizoid; Klein names it the paranoid position, adding the term schizoid, which she takes from Ronald Fairbairn, and from 1952 calls it the paranoid-schizoid position. She holds that an ego capable of anxiety, defence and object relations exists from birth but lacks cohesion, and that its primary anxiety is a fear of annihilation arising from the death instinct within, which it deflects outward and then meets as persecution. Its chief defence is splitting: the object, at first the breast, is divided into a good and a bad one, and since the ego cannot split the object without being split itself, the same division runs through the self, sustained by idealisation, denial and omnipotent phantasies of annihilating what is bad. Klein here describes projective identification, the phantasy of forcing split-off parts of the self into the mother in order to harm, possess and control her, so that she comes to be felt as those parts; good parts of the self are projected too, which is necessary for good object relations but, in excess, depletes the ego. The paper traces how these mechanisms colour schizoid object relations and the transference, with their detachment and splitting-off of feeling, and argues that when persecutory anxiety and splitting are too strong the depressive position cannot be worked through, so that the fixation points of schizophrenia lie in this first position and are bound up with those of manic-depressive illness. Klein discusses Fairbairn's work at length, accepting much of his account of schizoid phenomena while objecting to his neglect of anxiety, aggression and the death instinct.
Main ideas
- Before the depressive position there is an earlier phase, covering roughly the first three or four months, in which anxiety is chiefly persecutory and the defences schizoid. Klein calls it the paranoid position, qualified by Fairbairn's term schizoid, and from 1952 the paranoid-schizoid position.
- An ego able to feel anxiety, use defences and form object relations exists from birth, though it lacks cohesion and swings between integration and falling into pieces. Its primary anxiety is the fear of annihilation, which Klein derives from the death instinct at work within; deflected outward, it returns as fear of persecutors.
- Splitting is the central early defence. The breast is divided into a good, idealised object and a bad, persecuting one, and the ego cannot split its object without being split itself; idealisation, denial and omnipotent phantasies of annihilating the bad object and the painful situation keep the split in place.
- In projective identification, which the paper introduces, the infant in phantasy forces split-off, hated parts of the self, together with harmful excrements, into the mother, to injure her and to possess and control her from inside; she is then felt to be those parts, and this becomes the prototype of an aggressive object relation.
- Good parts of the self are projected too. Within limits this is the basis of good object relations, but in excess it impoverishes the ego, leaving it weak and dependent on the objects that now hold its lost parts, and feeds fears of being controlled or trapped by them.
- The introjection of a good object, in the first place the good breast, forms a focal point in the ego that counteracts splitting and dispersal and makes integration possible; the ego's development depends on the balance between introjection and projection.
- Schizoid object relations bear the mark of these mechanisms: they are narcissistic, guarded and emotionally detached. In analysis the patient may split off feelings and parts of the self, so that interpretations seem to leave him untouched, and bringing the split-off parts together brings anxiety and depression to the surface.
- When persecutory anxiety and splitting are excessive, the depressive position cannot be adequately worked through, and that failure in turn strengthens the schizoid defences. The fixation points of schizophrenia lie in the first position and those of manic-depressive illness in the depressive one, and the interplay of the two positions accounts for the links between the two disorders.
- In ordinary development, splitting held within bounds is not pathological: it lets the infant keep good and bad experience apart, and it is the forerunner of the later mechanism of repression.
- Klein discusses Ronald Fairbairn's work on schizoid states at length, agreeing on the importance of schizoid phenomena and of the earliest object relations but rejecting his revision of instinct theory and his neglect of anxiety, aggression and the death instinct.
What it shows
- 1946
Ronald Fairbairn influenced Melanie Klein
In her 1946 paper Klein acknowledged Fairbairn's work on schizoid states and took up his term, renaming her paranoid position the paranoid-schizoid position, though she disagreed with much of his theory.
- 1946
Melanie Klein introduced Paranoid-schizoid position
- 1946
Melanie Klein introduced Projective identification
In 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms' (1946) Klein describes the infant's phantasy of expelling split-off parts of the self into the mother, so that the mother is identified with the hated parts of the self. The term 'projective identification' appears once in the 1946 paper; the sentence explicitly proposing it as a name for these processes was added in the revised version printed in Developments in Psycho-Analysis (1952).
Paranoid-schizoid position derives from Schizoid position
Klein's concept took its name, in part, from Fairbairn's schizoid position, but kept her own account of the death drive and early anxiety.
- 1946
Melanie Klein reworked Projection
Klein makes projection one of the first defences of the infant ego, active from the beginning of life and derived, in her view, from the deflection of the death instinct outwards. What is projected is not only an impulse or reproach but split-off parts of the self, good as well as bad, put 'into' the mother rather than 'on to' her so as to injure, control or possess her. In constant interplay with introjection, projection builds up the inner and outer world of good and bad objects.
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Projection opposes Introjection
Projection and introjection are paired as opposite movements between inside and outside: putting out of the self what belongs to it, and taking into the self what lies outside. Ferenczi coined introjection as the counterpart of projection, and Klein treats the two as working in constant interplay from the beginning of life. Lacan disputed that they are simple reciprocals, placing them in different registers.
- 1946
Projective identification derives from Projection
Projective identification grew out of Klein's account of projection. When split-off parts of the self are projected into the mother, she is felt to contain them and to be the bad (or good) self, and an identification follows that Klein takes as the prototype of aggressive object relations. She speaks of 'projective identification' in the same paper and gave the term its formal introduction in the 1952 revision.
- 1946
Melanie Klein developed Introjection
Klein makes introjection, together with projection, one of the ego's first means of dealing with anxiety: the introjected good breast becomes a core of the ego, while introjected persecutors feed fears from within. Normal development depends on an optimal balance between the two processes; excessive projection is answered by an introjection felt as a forceful entry from outside.
- 1946
Projective identification derives from Splitting
In Klein's account projective identification presupposes splitting: what is projected into the object are parts of the ego that have first been split off, and she treats excessive splitting and projective identification together as what weakens the ego in the earliest position of infancy, which the 1946 paper calls paranoid or schizoid and which she later named paranoid-schizoid.
- 1946
Melanie Klein developed Splitting
In 1946 Klein makes splitting the central defence of the earliest, paranoid-schizoid position. The breast is divided into an idealised good object and a persecuting bad one, and since the ego cannot split its object without splitting itself, the division runs through the self too.
- 1946
Paranoid-schizoid position derives from Splitting
Klein built the earliest position on splitting. The schizoid in its name refers to splitting of the object and the ego, the defence against persecutory anxiety by which the infant keeps the good breast apart from the bad.
- 1946
Melanie Klein developed Idealization
Klein makes idealization one of the earliest defences of the paranoid-schizoid position. Tied to splitting, it exaggerates the good aspects of the breast as a safeguard against fear of the persecuting breast.