Posted by Dinah on July 2, 2006, at 9:19:27
In reply to Projective identification stands up/ recognized, posted by gardenergirl on July 2, 2006, at 5:47:35
I've got to admit this is one of those psychological concepts that I can't get my brain around. It's like trigonometry to me. I always was good at math, thought in algebraic terms naturally, was great at proofs and theorems, relatively good at geometry, but trignometry stopped me flat. It asked me to think outside of the logical two dimensional world that my brain is best in.
And some psychological concepts like ego and projective identification are like that to me.
If I understand correctly, with projective identification you are brought to feel what another person is feeling, even if they aren't openly expressing it. So that if you're talking to someone angry - whether or not they're showing it, you begin feeling angry even if the situation doesn't necessarily call for anger.
Is this supposed to be a matter of simple contagion? This will sound schizotypal of me (and is one of the reasons my therapist clings to the schizotypal personality disorder label for me) but I've always thought that emotions give off energy that can be detected to some degree or another. My husband laughingly calls me semipsychic because he can walk in the door and practically before the door shuts I can tell his mood and comment on it. My son does the same. When I pick him up from school, before he buckles his seatbelt he might ask if something's wrong or comment that I seem happy.
Or is it thought that people do subtle and likely unconscious things to arouse these feelings? Like phrase their sentences in such a way as to engender anger? Or hit previously known buttons?
poster:Dinah
thread:663469
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060623/msgs/663498.html