Projective identification, self-disclosure, and the patient's view of the object: the need for flexibility

Certain patients, through projective identification and splitting mechanisms, test the boundaries of the analytic situation. These patients are usually experiencing overwhelming paranoid-schizoid anxieties and view the object as ruthless and persecutory. Using a Kleinian perspective, the author advocates greater analytic flexibility with these difficult patients who seem unable to use the standard analytic environment. The concept of self-disclosure is examined, and the author discusses certain technical situations where self-disclosure may be helpful. (The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research 1999; 8:225-233)