Projective identification from the perspective of contemporary psychoanalysis

In this work the author argues for a revision of the concept of projective identification. This defence mechanism, initially coined by M. Klein and at the base of the Paranoid Personality Disorder, is revised, from a relational point of view, both from a theoretical and clinical point of view and it is proposed to rename it "intersubjective identification". Starting from the recent discoveries of neuroscience and infant research, it is highlighted how projective identification constitutes a physiological relational modality in the early stages of the mother-child relationship and how it can then become dysfunctional in growth if it is not replaced by more mature defensive mechanisms. A new theoretical model is then developed, which obviously has an impact on the treatment of pathologies in which projective identification is present in a decisive way.