Primitive defenses: cognitive aspects and therapeutic handling

A discussion of "Primitive Defenses: cognitive Aspects and Therapeutic Handling," by Leslie S. Groh, Ph.D. One of Dr. Groh's explicit aims in this interesting and thought-provoking paper is to show that Melanic Klein's concept of schizoid mechanisms is therapeutically applicable by a psychologist. This aim he does indeed achieve, using very interesting and convincing clinical examples. However, his other aim, to provide evidence in support of Piaget's view that only at about nine months of age is abstract concept formation possible, is definitely not proven. Actually, he offers additional clinical support to the claim of Klein's followers that adult psychoses are accessible to the interpretive, psychoanalytic approach. This suggests that Klein's dating of the onset of mental mechanisms should not be lightly dismissed because observational methods do not reveal what is perceived by the psychoanalytic method.