This lecture has been jointly developed by several members of a
group of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapists (Thomas Fuchs, Michael Ruh, Marianne
Soff, Bernd Gerstner). This group was trained in psychoanalytic theory by Karl-Herrmann
SCHÄFER, who died in 1996. He was a psychoanalyst at the Sigmund-Freud-Institute
of Frankfurt, member of the GTA and member of the training staff of the psychotherapy
section of the GTA.
Psychoanalysis and Gestalt theory have theoretical and conceptual links regarding
their dynamic conceptualization of psychic processes. Defence mechanisms play a
major role in theory and therapy of both schools.
The defence mechanism projection in its classical psychoanalytic sense
is compared with the Gestalt-theoretical view of this concept. For this purpose,
the epistemological orientation of Gestalt theory - Critical Realism - is outlined.
Exemplified by a simple case study, possible effects of a projection on the phenomenal
world and the transphenomenal world are described. Compared to the psychoanalytical
perspective, Critical Realism provides a broader system-view and a clearer distinction
between "inside" and "outside".
The person is inevitably viewed as part of a specific situation: This situation
contains forces that do not "come" from the person itself but are merely
part of the context and thus influence the person's experience and behaviour. These
forces - KÖHLER and WERTHEIMER called them "demands of the situation"
(Gefordertheiten) -have to be taken into account when we try to understand an individual's
present behaviour.
The field-theoretical analysis of the conflict underlying a projection identifies
the needs, the barriers and the substitutive goals of an individual in a concrete
situation. The phenomenon projection can be explained systematically in Gestalt-theoretical
terms without referring to "historical solutions", such as early childhood
traumata or the Oedipus complex.
The possibility of past events influencing the present behaviour of a person is
by no means denied, but there has to be a clear distinction between the systematic
approach and the historical analysis.
The same is true for a more complex defence mechanism, the so-called projective
identification, first described by Melanie KLEIN (1946). She believes that
this early form of projection has its origin during the first four month after birth.
In therapy, this defence mechanism can be found in psychotic or borderline personalities
(KERNBERG, 1978). It is a very intensive projection of primitive aggression of internalized
self-images or object-images. At the same time the person identifies himself/herself
with the object. Due to this "empathic" relationship, the object becomes
very threatening and must therefore be permanently controlled in order to avoid
the feared attack of the object.
This process is linked to a loss of ego-boundaries, because - due to the identification
- the projected aggression is still seen as a part of the person.
The projective identification poses a serious problem for the therapeutic relationship
because it will force the therapist into what KERNBERG (1978) called "empathic
regression", re-activating early identifications on his side. The therapist
may perceive feelings that seem to have nothing to do with the present communication.
ROSENFELD (1990) emphasized the interpersonal and comunicative function of projective
identification: The therapist is forced by his/her "own" inner experience
to deal with the experience of the projecting person.
How can a phenomenon like this be explained in Gestalt-theoretical terms?
KOFFKA (1935) proposed a theory explaining how one person´s feelings can be
perceived by another person. He differentiates between a geometrical point-to-point
representation and a dynamic organisation of the psychophysical field and thus the
phenomenal world. The perceiving person experiences in his/her phenomenal world
a specific pattern of motion that "contains" as Gestalt-qualities certain
affective states. That means, like "sad" pictures or "delightful"
melodies the affective state is immediately perceivable. There is no need for interpretation
or association.
So it is possible that an empathic person experiences in his phenomenal world disassociated
affective states of another person, although it seems that there is actually nothing
to be seen, to be heard, to be felt. The affective state as a Gestalt-quality is
located within the phenomal field of the perceiving person but cannot be connected
to the perceived person. Instead, the feelings are transferred to the own person.
Like before, the phenomenon projective identification can also be explained systematically
in Gestalt-theoretical terms without referring to "historical solutions".
There can nevertheless be the need to explain which biographical events may have
contributed to a person's disassociating of parts of her personality. But the Gestalt-theoretical
frame seems sufficient to explain the dynamic process underlying a projective identification.
The particularity of this defence mechanism seems to be that in empathic situations
persons have difficulties in distinguishing aspects of the own self versus aspects
of others within the phenomenal world, especially when one person has no access
to certain parts of his/her phenomenal field.
The psychoanalytic explanations emphasizing early childhood experiences remain vague
and hypothetical. We have to be cautious in connecting present pathological phenomena
in adult persons with hypothesized early developments. At least some of the theoretical
assumptions of FREUD and KLEIN have to be corrected in the light of empirical developmental
psychology (e.g. STERN, 1985).
In contrast the Gestalt-theoretical approach tries by means of phenomenological
methods to identify the important personal and contextual conditions that may contribute
to the understanding of a person's behaviour. This corresponds to a view of man
that is principally capable of recognizing the "demands of the situation"
and behaving according to the needs of the situation, rather than being permanently
trapped between pleasure and denial.
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