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Transitional phenomena, projective identification, and the essential ambiguity of the psychoanalytic situation
1Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|January 1, 1989
Abstract:
Ambiguity, which is an intrinsic and essential aspect of the psychoanalytic situation, is related to the concepts of transitional phenomena and projective identification. The analyst's feelings of uncertainty that accompany this ambiguity are contrasted with a "pathological certainty." The consequences of the loss of ambiguity and the role of the analyst's countertransference in this process are described.