Book
The Claustrum: An Investigation of Claustrophobic Phenomena
Meltzer distinguishes intrusive identification, an omnipotent phantasy of forcing one's way into the internal mother to possess her qualities, from the communicative projective identification that Bion described. He maps the inner world that intrusion creates: the claustrum, divided into the compartments of the head-breast, the genital and the rectum, each with its own atmosphere, in which the intruder lives in claustrophobic dread of expulsion. He traces the claustrum's part in narcissism, perversion and addiction, psychosis and the onset of schizophrenia, adolescence and politics, and the technical problems of reaching patients who live inside it. The book closes with an essay by Meg Harris Williams on Macbeth. Its publisher presents it as a companion to The Apprehension of Beauty, and Rebeca Grinberg noted that it calls the identification intrusive, a matter of quality, rather than massive, a matter of quantity.
Main ideas
- Intrusive identification, an omnipotent phantasy of entering the internal mother to possess her qualities, differs from communicative projective identification.
- The claustrum has three compartments, the head-breast, the genital and the rectum, each with its own atmosphere.
- Life inside the claustrum is shadowed by a claustrophobic dread of expulsion.
- The claustrum plays a part in narcissism, perversion, addiction, psychosis and adolescence.
- Patients who live inside the claustrum pose particular technical problems for the analyst.
- What marks this identification is its intrusive quality, not its massive quantity.
What it shows
- 1966
Donald Meltzer introduced Intrusive identification
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.
- 1992
Donald Meltzer introduced Claustrum
In The Claustrum Meltzer maps the inside of the internal mother entered by intrusive identification: head-breast, genital and rectal compartments, each with its own claustrophobic world.
Donald Meltzer developed Projective identification
Meltzer explored projective identification from The Psycho-Analytical Process (1967), where it organises the 'gathering of the transference', to The Claustrum (1992), where he separates its intrusive, omnipotent form from communication.
Claustrum derives from Intrusive identification
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.
Intrusive identification 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.