A note on two important aspects of Kleinian theory. 'Projective identification' and 'idealisation'

The concept of 'projective identification', introduced by Melanie Klein and extensively used by her followers, is still held by many to be highly controversial and difficult to understand. Great importance is also attached by Kleinian workers to what they describe as the infant's early use of 'idealisation' as a defence against anxiety. A hypothesis is presented according to which both mechanisms could be seen as the continuation or persistence, in mental form and in early post-natal life, of some of the ways in which the unborn child could be said to relate to the mother physically during the last few months of intrauterine life.