Selected for Solitude: A Case Report of Loneliness.

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, recently declared loneliness a public health epidemic. For therapists, that is not likely to be a surprise: Loneliness is so common in people who seek therapy that it might be seen as the bread and butter of our work. Despite that, there has not been much serious examination of intrapsychic factors that may contribute to this painful condition. Public discourse has focused instead on cultural and societal causes of loneliness, and on practical steps that might be taken to decrease it. But practical advice is not always sufficient for people with longstanding loneliness. Longstanding loneliness may be fueled by intrapsychic dynamics and become embedded in character. In some cases, patients may relish companionship yet steadfastly avoid it in an attempt to master early childhood experiences of being emotionally neglected and deprived of love. They were starved of love as children and now choose to starve themselves in an unconscious attempt to master early deprivation by identifying with the aggressor. For patients like this, chronic loneliness may signal a certain kind of attachment disorder, for it is the visible sign of early attachment to a distant or rejecting parental figure. Loneliness of that kind can be a stubborn problem and one that poses a considerable therapeutic challenge.

"Caught in the crossfire" - women veterans' testimonies regarding excessively violent acts committed in combat zones.

As women in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are increasingly placed in supportive and combat roles in active war zones, they routinely encounter and participate in violent acts. This study focusses on the centrality of gendered inequality and oppression as a factor that shapes not only women's experience in the military but also their responses in cases of excessive violence. The goal of this study was to explore the ways women veterans of combat or combat-support units conceptualize their stance regarding violent acts which they either committed or witnessed in war zones. Using a qualitative approach, we analyzed the retrospective testimonies of 58 Israeli women veterans from the archives of an NGO that documents veteran combatants exposure to excessive violence. Most women explained their violent acts as inherent to the military system and culture, which in our analysis was categorized as examples of either internalized gender oppression or as identification with the aggressor. A smaller number of women described their attempts to protest, as they took a moral stance rooted in a feminine perspective. The three explanations revealed through the analysis of the testimonies reflect the inner tension experienced by many women in the military, as they navigate between two extreme positions, either as victims of male dominance, or as aggressors that are part of a powerful military system. In this study, gendered inequality provides a framework for analyzing the data. Thus, this study contributes to the theoretical knowledge and methodological approaches concerning violent situations in combat areas, focusing on the various ways in which women veterans subjectively and retroactively conceptualize their participation in and responses to violent acts.

Treating the sequelae of chronic childhood emotional abandonment.

Chronic emotional abandonment is traumatic for children, and often leads them to identify with the aggressor (IWA)-in order to hold onto their needed attachment to their parents, they feel, think, and do what their parents require, blame themselves for being abused and for their family's unhappiness, and feel ashamed. IWA often persists as a general tendency. Treatment requires therapists' dependability, attunement, empathy, interest, humility, and perhaps playfulness. Patients' history of abandonment should be explored in detail, though patients may be protective of their parents. Therapists should explore their own behavior if necessary, and acknowledge lapses; normalize and explore patients' shame; and avoid trying to "rescue" patients. Patients must be helped to re-find authority and agency over their own lives, and mourn their early loss of feeling "the right to a life." The treatment of "Claire," a 40-something child of two depressed parents, illustrates some of these points.

Posttraumatic Growth, Dissociation and Identification With The Aggressor Among Childhood Abuse Survivors.

Childhood abuse puts individuals at risk for psychopathology and psychiatric symptoms such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety symptoms. At the same time, research has indicated that some survivors report positive transformations in the aftermath of their trauma, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). Yet the essence of PTG reports is questionable, and some scholars claim that it may reflect maladaptive illusory qualities. Furthermore, according to a recent theoretical model, PTG might be dissociation-based and related to survivors' bonds with their perpetrators. This study aimed to explore these claims by assessing PTG, dissociation, and identification with the aggressor (IWA), as well as PTSD and anxiety symptoms. An online survey was conducted among 597 adult childhood abuse survivors. Study variables were assessed via self-report measures. Analyses indicated positive associations between PTG, dissociation, and IWA. Three distinct profiles were found, reflecting high, medium, and low scores on PTG, dissociation, and IWA. Profile type explained PTSD and anxiety symptoms above and beyond gender, age, and abuse severity. These findings suggest that whereas some childhood abuse survivors might experience a positive transformation subsequent to their trauma, others' PTG reports might reflect dissociative mechanisms and pathological attachments to their perpetrators, and thus might be maladaptive.

Hyper-Sensitivity to the Perpetrator and the Likelihood of Returning to Abusive Relationships.

STUDY QUESTIONS: Although most women who are subjected to intimate partner violence attempt to leave their abusive partners, many return, and resultantly are at risk for even greater violence. Research to date has documented relations between several factors (income and economic dependence, frequency of intimate partner violence (IPV), fear of violence escalations, history of childhood abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms) and women's returning to their abusive partners. Nevertheless, the contribution of women's emotional bonds with their violent partners, known as identification with the aggressor (IWA), in explaining their perceived likelihood of going back to the relationship, has remained unclear. SUBJECTS: The current study, conducted among 258 Israeli women who had left their violent partners, aimed to fill this void. METHODS: An online survey was conducted. Demographic variables, history of childhood abuse, frequency of IPV, economic dependence on former partner, fear of future violence escalation, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, IWA, and perceived likelihood of returning to the relationship, were assessed via self-report questionnaire. FINDINGS: Results indicated that two aspects of IWA-becoming hyper-sensitive to the perpetrator and adopting the perpetrator's experience-were related to women's perceived likelihood of returning to the relationship. Furthermore, a logistic regression analysis indicated that only two factors-income and becoming hyper-sensitive to the perpetrator-uniquely contributed to explaining the likelihood of returning to abusive partners. Major implications: The current findings suggest that women's tendency to be highly attuned to their partners' feelings and needs, as a part of IWA, may impede their ability to permanently leave abusive relationships.

Child abuse and eating disorder symptoms: Shedding light on the contribution of identification with the aggressor.

BACKGROUND: Childhood abuse has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for eating disorder symptoms. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that childhood abuse may lead to identification with the aggressor, an automatic defensive process, to survive the abuse. Although it has been clinically implied, the role of identification with the aggressor as a potential mechanism underlying the relation between childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms has not yet been empirically explored. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the role of identification with the aggressor as mediator in the association between history of childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms among adults. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A convenience sample of 198 participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing history of childhood abuse, eating disorder symptoms, and the various facets of identification with the aggressor. RESULTS: Severity of childhood abuse was significantly associated with shape and weight overevaluation, body dissatisfaction, and binge eating, as well as with all components of identification with the aggressor. In addition, almost all components of identification with the aggressor were significantly associated with eating disorder symptoms. Finally, identifying with the perpetrator's aggression mediated the association between childhood abuse and eating disorder symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The findings may contribute to future clinical interventions by illuminating identification with the aggressor as an important aspect in treating eating disorders. Understanding the pervasive effects of identification with the aggressor on survivors' self and their interactions with others may point to the significance of the therapeutic relationship, through which survivors can reprocess and weaken its detrimental effects.

A Complex Relationship: Intimate Partner Violence, Identification With the Aggressor, and Guilt.

This study explored the relation between guilt and identification with the aggressor (IWA) and the moderating role of IWA in the relation between intimate partner violence (IPV) and guilt. An online survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 700 women. IPV survivors demonstrated elevated guilt, and IWA was related to guilt. Furthermore, IWA moderated the relation between IPV and guilt: Among participants with low IWA levels, IPV was unrelated to guilt, but among participants with high IWA levels, IPV was related to guilt. These findings suggest that IWA may be a key element in explaining guilt among IPV survivors.

The Narcissistic dynamics of submission: the attraction of the powerless to authoritarian leaders.

Ferenczi's conception of identification with the aggressor, which describes children's typical response to traumatic assaults by family members, provides a remarkably good framework to understand mass social and economic trauma. In the moment of trauma, children instinctively submit and comply with what abusers want-not just in behavior but in their perceptions, thoughts, and emotions-in order to survive the assault; afterwards they often continue to comply, out of fear that the family will turn its back on them. Notably, a persistent tendency to identify with the aggressor is also typical in children who have been emotionally abandoned by narcissistically self-preoccupied parents, even when there has not been gross trauma. Similarly, large groups of people who are economically or culturally dispossessed by changes in their society typically respond by submitting and complying with the expectations of a powerful figure or group, hoping they can continue to belong-just like children who are emotionally abandoned by their families. Not surprisingly, emotional abandonment, both in individual lives and on a mass scale, is typically felt as humiliating; and it undermines the sense that life is meaningful and valuable.But the intolerable loss of belonging and of the feeling of being a valuable person often trigger exciting, aggressive, compensatory fantasies of specialness and entitlement. On the large scale, these fantasies are generally authoritarian in nature, with three main dynamics-sadomasochism, paranoid-schizoid organization, and the manic defense-plus a fourth element: the feeling of emotional truth that follows narcissistic injury, that infuses the other dynamics with a sense of emotional power and righteousness. Ironically, the angry attempt to reassert one's entitlements ends up facilitating compliance with one's oppressors and undermining the thoughtful, effective pursuit of realistic goals.

Identification With the Aggressor and Inward and Outward Aggression in Abuse Survivors.

Childhood abuse survivors may display both inward and outward aggression manifested in self-injurious behavior (SIB) and violent acts toward others. Scrutinizing the literature reveals that the relational dynamics between victims and their perpetrators might be involved in these phenomena. Yet, research on this subject matter has been sparse. Filling this gap, this study investigated the contribution of the singular bonds between victims and their perpetrators, known as identification with the aggressor, in explaining survivors' aggression. The study was conducted among 306 Israeli college/university students who reported a history of childhood abuse. Results revealed that levels of adopting the perpetrator's experience, identifying with the perpetrator's aggression, and replacing one's agency with that of the perpetrator were significantly associated with survivors' inward and outward aggression. Moreover, profile type-that is, having high versus low levels of identification with the aggressor-was implicated in participants' SIBs, urge to harm others, and violent acts toward others, above and beyond the effects of gender and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The present findings suggest that identification with the aggressor might make survivors prone to the re-enactment of past abusive dynamics, which, in turn, could eventuate in aggression toward themselves and others.

Suicidality in childhood abuse survivors - the contribution of identification with the aggressor.

OBJECTIVE: Childhood abuse survivors are at risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Research has indicated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and dissociation are related to elevated suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) among this population. At the same time, although the theoretical and clinical literature in the trauma field have suggested that survivors' pathological attachment to their perpetrators, known as identification with the aggressor, might explain SIB, this supposition has not been investigated to date. METHOD: Filling this gap, this study explored the associations between identification with the aggressor, PTSD symptoms, dissociation, and SIB among 589 adult survivors of childhood abuse. RESULTS: Identification with the aggressor, PTSD symptoms, and dissociation were related to elevated levels in suicidal ideation and behavior. Furthermore, profile type (namely, having high versus medium or low levels of identification with the aggressor, PTSD symptoms, and dissociation) was implicated in participants' SIB: Participants who adhered to a profile characterized by high levels of identification with the aggressor, PTSD symptoms, and dissociation had higher levels of suicide risk and suicidal ideation, as well as higher odds of reporting a history of suicide attempts, compared to participants who adhered to the other two profiles (i.e., characterized by medium or low levels of identification with the aggressor, PTSD symptoms, and dissociation). LIMITATIONS: This study relied on convenience sampling and a cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS: Identification with the aggressor might serve, alongside PTSD symptoms and dissociation, as a risk factor for suicidal ideation and behavior among childhood abuse survivors.

Painful bonds: Identification with the aggressor and distress among IPV survivors.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health problem that often results in a variety of mental health detriments, including trauma-related distress and depressive symptoms. According to the trauma literature, IPV victims may develop strong bonds with their perpetrators - a phenomenon known as identification with the aggressor (IWA) - in order to survive the abuse. Yet, this defensive reaction may endure after the abuse has ended, and may adversely affect victims' mental health. Nevertheless, research exploring these suppositions is lacking. Filling this void, this study investigated IWA in light of current versus past IPV as well as the relations between IWA, trauma-related distress, and depressive symptoms among a convenience sample of 297 women. Of them, 68 and 229 participants reported being subjected to IPV at present or in the past, respectively. Results indicated that whereas participants who reported current IPV had elevated trauma-related distress and depressive symptoms compared to participants who reported past IPV, no differences were found in IWA levels between the groups. Identification with the aggressor was related to trauma-related distress and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, IWA had a unique contribution in explaining trauma-related distress and depressive symptoms above and beyond background characteristics and IPV features. The findings of the current study suggest that IWA may mirror the unique relational dynamics that characterize IPV, which continue to exist even after the abuse ends, and may be implicated in IPV survivors' psychological distress.

O conceito de introjeção e sua evolução na teoria de Ferenczi / The concept of introjection and its evolution in Ferenczi's theory / El concepto de introyección y su evolución en la teoría de Ferenczi

Para Ferenczi, em grande sintonia com o pensamento de Freud, a introjeção foi inicialmente um conceito fundamental no desenvolvimento psíquico da criança e indispensável para diferenciar o funcionamento neurótico de outras patologias. Além disso era uma noção essencial para teorizar a dinâmica transferencial na relação analítica. No entanto, ao final de sua obra, ao reavaliar a importância do trauma, da confusão de línguas entre o adulto e a criança e entre o analista e o paciente, ao conceitualizar as noções de identificação com o agressor e de introjeção do sentimento de culpa nas síndromes pós-traumáticas e, principalmente, ao sublinhar a importância decisiva que adquire a desmentida e a cisão do Ego na dinâmica do trauma, Ferenczi modifica e enriquece enormemente sua primeira contribuição. Justamente sua última contribuição à psicanálise, refletida nas derradeiras notas do Diário clínico, é um neologismo interessante que Ferenczi define como intropressão, consistindo na tentativa de conjugar a introjeção com os efeitos violentos suscitados na mente da criança em decorrência da irrupção inesperada do Superego parental e dos adultos em geral. Esta dinâmica, além disso, lamentavelmente não deixa de estar presente em algumas modalidades patológicas da relação analítica. Esta última concepção de Ferenczi foi continuada e completada de maneira brilhante por Abraham e Torok em seu conceito do crime da introjeção, a que se dedica a última parte do presente trabalho (AU)

To Ferenczi, whose thinking was largely in line with that of Freud, introjection was initially a fundamental concept in the psychic development of the child and was necessary to distinguish the neurotic functioning from other pathologies. Furthermore, introjection was a crucial notion for the theorization of the transference dynamics in the analytic relationship. However, in his final works, Ferenczi modified and expanded his first contribution, since he reassessed the importance of trauma and the confusion of tongues between the adult and the child and between the analyst and the patient; he conceptualized the notions of identification with the aggressor and of introjection of the guilt feeling in posttraumatic disorders and also underlined the decisive importance that disavowal and ego-splitting have in the dynamics of trauma. In his last contribution to psychoanalysis, condensed in the notes of his Clinical Diary, Ferenczi presented indeed an interesting neologism that he defined intropression, consisting in the attempt to combine introjection with the violent effects arisen in the child's mind after the unexpected irruption of the parental Superego and of adults in general. That dynamics is unfortunately present in some pathological modalities of the analytic relationship. The latter notion introduced by Ferenczi was brilliantly developed and completed by Abraham and Torok in their concept of crime of introjection to which the last part of this paper is dedicated

Para Ferenczi, muy en sintonía con el pensamiento de Freud, la introyección fue inicialmente un concepto fundamental en el desarrollo psíquico del niño e indispensable para diferenciar el funcionamiento neurótico de otras patologías. Además resultaba una noción esencial para teorizar la dinámica transferencial en la relación analítica. Sin embargo, al final de su obra, al revalorizar la importancia del trauma, de la confusión de lenguas entre el adulto y el niño y entre el analista y el paciente, al conceptualizar las nociones de identificación con el agresor y de introyección del sentimiento de culpa en los síndromes post-traumáticos y sobre todo al subrayar la importancia decisiva que adquiere el desmentido y la escisión del yo en la dinámica del trauma, Ferenczi modifica y enriquece enormemente su primera aportación. Precisamente, su última contribución al psicoanálisis, reflejada en las postreras notas del Diario clínico es un neologismo interesante que Ferenczi define como intropresión y que era el intento de conjugar la introyección con los efectos violentos que suscita en la irrupción inesperada del super yo parental y de los adultos en general en la mente del niño. Esta dinámica además, no deja de estar presente lamentablemente en algunas modalidades patológicas de la relación analítica. Esta última concepción de Ferenczi fue continuada y completada brillantemente por Abraham y Torok en su concepto del crimen de la introyección, al que se dedica la última parte del presente trabajo

Traumatization Through Human Agency: "Embodied Witnessing" is Essential in the Treatment of Survivors.

The importance of human relations in understanding and treating trauma is evident not only from the severity of traumatization inflicted by human agency and the dissociation that ensues from traumatic interpersonal relations, but also from the analyst's affective participation which is essential to the reparation of the serious psychopathologies that originate in traumatization. Developing Ferenczi's theorizations, on the identification with the aggressor, I propose that after the abuse the traumatized subject identifies partly with the persecutor and partly with the victim, which sometimes is represented by the body itself, becoming the object of the destructiveness. Such unconscious identifications are accompanied by the dynamics of experiencing complex feelings of guilt and shame (the victim side) and the aggressiveness and anger, (the persecutor/persecuting side). It was Ferenczi who first described the potential for a therapist, acting benevolently and supportively as sole witness, to create the preconditions for the patient to re-contact long-dissociated parts, thanks to the implicit non-verbal and corporal exchange, a concept which is here explained as embodied testimony/witnessing and enactment, and unconscious communication of the right hemispheres of therapist and patient.

The "Authoritarian Personality" Reconsidered: the Phantom of "Left Fascism".

This article explores the question of "Left fascism," which emerged in relation to discussions around the Student Movement in the German Federal Republic in the crucial decade between 1967-1977. The term was originally coined by Jürgen Habermas in a lecture entitled "The Phantom Revolution and its Children" in which he suggests that the extreme voluntarism of the students could not but be characterized as "Left fascist." Such a characterization becomes the basis for a vitally important exchange of letters between Herbert Marcuse and Theodor W. Adorno from January to August of 1969 on the relation between theory and praxis. After first sketching Adorno's conception of the "authoritarian personality," with the help of Sándor Ferenczi's concept of the "identification with the aggressor," the article proceeds to examine the exchange of the letters between Adorno and Marcuse, illustrating Adorno's changed orientation: that "fascism" or "authoritarianism" maybe either left or right. Finally, some conclusions are drawn about the authoritarian tendencies of the contemporary Left.

Análise de adolescentes: imersões clínicas no reino da elasticidade da técnica / Análisis de adolescentes: inmersiones clínicas en el reino de la elasticidad de la técnica / Analysis of adolescents: clinical immersions in the realm of elasticity of the technique

O artigo apresenta uma trajetória de descoberta da riqueza das ideias ferenczianas: partindo de uma questão de manejo técnico da "identificação com o agressor" na clínica com crianças vítimas de abuso sexual, a autora se deparou com as visionárias ideias de Sándor Ferenczi em prol de uma flexibilidade na técnica analítica, com a finalidade de driblar a resistência de alguns pacientes ao método analítico ortodoxo. Tal proposta, mesmo não tendo sido estudada ou seguida pelas instituições psicanalíticas, serve, perfeitamente, para descrever o manejo da técnica analítica com adolescentes na contemporaneidade - tanto na renúncia à estrita observância da regra fundamental da associação livre, quanto na necessária disponibilidade do analista para conviver seja com o silêncio como modo de resistência do paciente, seja com suas atuações (acting out). Ao estímulo dado por Ferenczi aos analistas para prestarem atenção à força da resistência dos clientes e aos sentimentos mobilizados pela contratransferência, podem somar-se as prescrições acerca da confiança na franqueza e na sinceridade do analista diante das atitudes desconfiadas e antipáticas do paciente - recomendações que se encaixam, como uma luva, no campo minado em que se constitui o setting analítico com adolescentes, conforme será ilustrado por fragmentos de um caso clínico.

El presente artículo presenta una trayectoria de descubrimiento de la riqueza de las ideas ferenczianas: partiendo de una cuestión de manejo técnico de la "identificación con el agresor" en la clínica con niños y niñas víctimas de abuso sexual, la autora de deparó con las visionarias ideas de Sándor Ferenczi en pro de una flexibilidad en la técnica analítica, con la finalidad de driblar la resistencia de algunos pacientes al método analítico ortodoxo. Tal propuesta - aunque no haya sido estudiada o seguida por las instituciones psicoanalíticas - sirve, perfectamente, para describir el manejo de la técnica analítica con adolescentes en la contemporaneidad, tanto en la renuncia a la estricta observancia de la regla fundamental de la asociación libre, cuanto en la necesaria disponibilidad del analista para convivir sea con el silencio como modelo de resistencia del paciente o con sus actuaciones (acting out). Al estímulo dado por Ferenczi a los analistas para que presten atención a la fuerza de la resistencia de los clientes y a los sentimientos movilizados por la contratransferencia, pueden sumarse las prescripciones acerca de la confianza en la franqueza y en la sinceridad del analista delante de las actitudes desconfiadas y antipáticas del paciente - recomendaciones que se encajan, como un guante, en el campo minado en que se constituye el setting analítico con adolescentes, conforme se ilustrará por fragmentos de un caso clínico.

The article presents a trajectory of discovery of the richness of the Ferenczian ideas: starting from a question of technical management of the "identification with the aggressor" in the clinic with children victims of sexual abuse, the author came across the visionary ideas of Sándor Ferenczi in favor of a flexibility in the analytical technique, in order to overcome the resistance of some patients to the orthodox analytical method. Such a proposal, even though it has not been studied or followed by psychoanalytic institutions, perfectly serves to describe the management of analytic technique with adolescents in the contemporary world - both in renouncing the strict observance of the fundamental rule of free association and in the analyst's necessary availability to live with silence as a way of resistance of the patient, or with their acting out. Ferenczi's stimulus to analysts to pay attention to the strength of client resistance and the feelings mobilized by counter-transference may add to the prescriptions about trust in the frankness and sincerity of the analyst of the patient's suspicious and unfriendly attitudes. As will be ilustrated by fragments of a clinical case, the author's recommendations fit perfectly in the minefield in which the analytical setting with adolescents is constituted.

Reenacting Past Abuse - Identification with the Aggressor and Sexual Revictimization.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) poses a risk for sexual revictimization. Additionally, according to theory CSA may lead to identification with the aggressor, expressed by adopting the perpetrator's experience concerning the abuse; identifying with the perpetrator's aggression; replacing one's agency with that of the perpetrator; and becoming hyper-sensitive to the perpetrator. Although clinical impressions suggest that identification with the aggressor underlies reenactment of trauma, this linkage between identification with the aggressor and sexual revictimization remains largely uninvestigated. This study assessed (a) the relationship between identification with the aggressor (total score and four subscales) and sexual revictimization; (b) the unique associations between identification with the aggressor (total score and four subscales) and sexual revictimization, above and beyond chronicity of abuse and PTSD symptoms. Participants were Israeli women students who reported a history of CSA (n = 174). Analyses indicated significant correlations between two subscales of identification with the aggressor - replacing one's agency with that of the perpetrator and becoming hyper-sensitive to the perpetrator - and sexual revictimization. These subscales of identification with the aggressor were associated with sexual revictimization, above and beyond the effects of chronicity of the abuse and PTSD symptoms. Nevertheless, these associations were in opposite directions - while replacing one's agency with that of the perpetrator was related with higher occurrence of sexual revictimization, becoming hyper-sensitive to the perpetrator was related with lower levels of revictimization. These results imply that identification with the aggressor may serve as a multifaceted phenomenon in the context of sexual revictimization, comprised of both adaptive and maladaptive aspects.

The Psychic Life of Fragments: Splitting from Ferenczi to Klein.

The present paper starts from the reflection that there is a curious "phenomenological gap" in psychoanalysis when it comes to processes of splitting and to describing the "life" of psychic fragments resulting from processes of splitting. In simpler terms, we are often in a position to lack a precise understanding of what is being split and how the splitting occurs. I argue that although Melanie Klein's work is often engaged when talking of splitting (particularly through discussions on identification, projection and projective identification), there are some important phenomenological opacities in her construction. I show that by orchestrating a dialogue between Melanie Klein and Sándor Ferenczi, we arrive at a fuller and more substantive conception of psychic splitting and of the psychic life of fragments which are the result of splitting. This is even more meaningful because there are some unacknowledged genealogical connections between Ferenczian concepts and Kleinian concepts, which I here explore. While with Klein we remain in the domain of "good" and "bad" objects-polarised objects which are constantly split and projected-with Ferenczi we are able to also give an account of complicated forms of imitation producing psychic fragments and with a "dark" side of identification, which he calls "identification with the aggressor". While attempting to take steps toward imagining a dialogue between Klein and Ferenczi, I note a certain silent "Ferenczian turn" in a late text by Melanie Klein, "On the Development of Mental Functioning", written in 1958. In particular, I reflect on her reference to some "terrifying figures" of the psyche, which cannot be accounted for simply as the persecutory parts of the super-ego but are instead more adequately read as more enigmatic and more primitive psychic fragments, resulting from processes of splitting.

FERENCZI'S EVOLVING CONCEPTION OF NARCISSISIC PATHOLOGY AND ITS BASIS IN TRAUMA.

Ferenczi's landmark contributions to understanding and treating psychological trauma are inseparable from his evolving conception of narcissism, though he grasped their interrelationship only gradually. Ultimately, he saw narcissistic disorders as the result of how children cope with abuse or neglect, and their aftermath-they identify and comply with the needs of the aggressor, and later of people more generally, and dissociate their own needs, feelings, and perceptions; and they compensate for their submission and sacrifice of self by regressing to soothing omnipotent fantasies-which, ironically, may facilitate continued submission. Ferenczi's experiments in technique were designed to help patients overcome their defensive retreat to omnipotent fantasies and regain their lost selves. His earliest experiment, active technique, in which he frustrated patients, was a direct attack on their clinging to omnipotent fantasy. But as he came to see such narcissistic personality distortions as a way of coping with the residue of early trauma, his focus shifted to the underlying trauma. His loving and indulgent relaxation technique was intended as an antidote to early emotional neglect. His final experiment, mutual analysis, characterized by the analyst's openness and honesty in examining his own inevitable insincerities, was an attempt to heal the damage from parents' hypocrisy about their mistreatment, which Ferenczi came to see as most destructive to the child.

Knowing and not knowing: A frequent human arrangement.

The paradigmatic system of societal abuse occurs in totalitarian state systems. The relational systems of subjugation that maintain such states of terror must, of necessity, destroy any authentic civic space in which individuals can flourish. Similar dynamics characterize child abuse within families. Survival requires the use of varied strategies, the most extreme of which are dissociative in nature, and that result in marked distortions of developmental trajectories across all psychological domains. Such dynamics are mirrored in dissociative systems that, in the absence of intervention, perpetuate the trauma of non-recognition by subjugation and self-objectification, or by omnipotent denial of others' subjectivity. All abusive systems are facilitated by bystanders, whose awareness of what is disavowed is always partial, resulting in a state of knowing and not-knowing. As dynamics shift, bystanders may behave like victims-passive, helpless, frightened and frozen, or like perpetrators-taking vicarious and voyeuristic pleasure in abuse or actively aiding and abetting the abusers.