For the purposes of anonymity, all names of persons and organisations have been changed.
Introduction
This essay will firstly give a brief history of the relationship between two female members of City Youth Centre.
My aim is to then describe the psychodynamics between the girls, after thinking about recent incidents from a psychodynamic viewpoint. I will be looking at both past and present behaviour of each girl as individuals, as well as how they interact together, and how they relate within a small group. Some of the examples I will give, will be of Splitting, Projective Identification, Transference and Countertransference. To evidence my views, I will use definitions of Projective Identification explained by Shohet (1999), as well as Ogden (1992). I will also use xxxxxxxxxxxxx’s and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’s concept of Transference and Countertransference.
Background and history
Emma, 14, has five older brothers, and one younger sister. She shares a bedroom with her younger sister, and says that the two of them spend a lot of time together. Four of her brothers have now left the family home.
Lacey, 14, is an only child, and lives at home with both parents. Her 16-year-old cousin came to live with the family two years ago, after falling out with her own step-dad.
Emma and Lacey first met in primary school. Although they started off as friends, Lacey began to bully Emma, resulting in Emma transferring to an alternative primary school in year 5.
Despite their history, and the fact that they go to different secondary schools, they introduced themselves to me on our first meeting at City Youth Centre, as best friends. However, each subsequent meeting has ended up with Emma shouting at Lacey, name-calling her, and not letting her join in with her, or their mutual friends. This results in Lacey walking away quietly, standing alone, though remaining close to the group, and telling youth workers, as well as other youths, why she’s upset.
Emma and Lacey also spend a lot of time with another two young girls from the youth club, and at the start of each session, prior to any arguments, the four of them stick quite closely together. When things between Emma and Lacey escalate, the two other friends quietly go along with what Emma says and ignore Lacey, although in my opinion, look uncomfortable with the outcome.
My views
Paranoid-schizoid position
Emma seems to fear that her desire for acceptance, friendships and happiness, (all things that she values) are at risk of being taken away from her again via being bullied. She fears that her hidden feelings of loneliness and vulnerability will be exposed, and unconsciously, she splits these feelings off and attempts to place them into Lacey. I feel that this behaviour shows that Emma is in the paranoid schizoid position.
The term paranoid schizoid, was a term that Melanie Klein first used in 1946 to describe how an Infant sees internal or external objects (mother/breast) as either good or bad, and cannot comprehend that one object or being, can be both good and bad at the same time. The infant was then said to feel as though the bad object (the breast that would not feed satisfactorily) would hurt him, in the same way that he hurt it (biting, squeezing). This position is said to re-appear through-out childhood and adulthood.
The way in which Emma wants to split off and deny her ‘bad’ feelings of vulnerability and weakness, shows me that she is struggling to accept the ‘bad’ part of her, and by placing this part of her into Lacey, she is attempting to fulfil the disillusion that all of her is ‘good’ (strong, powerful and confident).
Projective Identification
As a defence mechanism to her ‘bad’ feelings, Emma unconsciously employs the strategy of Splitting and Projective Identification. This is shown by the way she removes these vulnerable feelings from inside herself (splitting), and passing them to Lacey (projection), via shouting at, name-calling and isolating her, for Lacey to then accept these feelings as her own (identification).
By allowing herself to become ostracized from the group, and not defending herself against the shouting and name-calling, Lacey has unknowingly accepted the role of the ‘bullied’, given to her by Emma, from her catalogue of inner-world characters.
Emma is, in effect, repressing and denying these feelings as fears/feelings inside herself.
I feel that the definition of projective identification given by Shohet (1999) ‘We induce feelings in others that are in ourselves.’ (p.41), helps to support my theory of projective identification in this case.
To further strengthen this theory, Ogden (1992) states that ‘The projector has the primarily unconscious fantasy of getting rid of an unwanted or endangered part of himself (including internal objects) and of depositing that part in another person in a powerfully controlling way.’ (pp1-2).
The two explanations of projective identification given above, reinforce how the splitting and passing of Emma’s fears of vulnerability, loneliness and powerlessness, for Lacey to accept as her own feelings, have helped me to understand this behaviour as projective identification.
Triangle of conflict
Malan (1979) introduces his idea known as ‘The triangle of conflict’ (pp13-14). By using this model, you can breakdown, and ‘Spell out to the patient the three aspects of the mechanism going on inside her – defence, anxiety, and hidden feeling – the triangle of conflict.’ (Malan, p14).
The theory behind the triangle, is that a patient can have a hidden feeling (anger for example), which in turn produces anxiety, and a defence is used to avoid these hidden feelings and anxieties.
Malan’s model of the triangle of conflict, shows me that because of Emma’s anxieties and defences, she may be ‘stuck’ in an unhelpful pattern. She has the hidden feelings that she is a vulnerable, weak person, able to be walked over, which she has repressed, creating anxieties that these attributes may reveal themselves, resulting in society abusing them. Consequently, Emma feels the need to repress them, but by doing so, she is allowing herself to be caught up in a vicious circle consisting of her hidden feelings of vulnerability, her anxieties of them being exposed and abused, and her defences of repression and splitting.
Transference and Countertransference
Although limited information is known in regards to the relationships between Emma and her siblings, I feel that as she is both an older sister and a younger sister, she could be transferring these relationships onto Lacey.
I imagine that growing up with 5 older brothers, she may have experienced dominant behaviour from them, this would have then shaped her relationship with her younger sister. Emma believes that the older, dominant, powerful one, is the one in control, the one that gets to tell the younger, weaker ones what to do, and is to be obeyed by them. It is probable, that if she played the submissive role in the relationship between her and her brothers, she would have then transferred the relationship between herself and her elder siblings, onto her younger sister. She feels that as she is the elder sibling in this relationship, she gets to play the dominant role, and her sister is to play the submissive role.
While observing the dynamics between the girls when they are socialising in their group of four, it appears that all 3 girls have accepted Emma as their ‘leader’. They show this acceptance by agreeing to do what she wants to do, as well as what she wants them to do.
I feel that Emma’s transference of dominance vs submissive relationships, have sparked a countertransference in the 3 other girls. They appear to identify with the submissive role they have been given. At this stage, I do not know the family background of the two mutual friends, but feel that Lacey may be identifying with this role resulting from her elder cousin moving into her household, and potentially having a more assertive personality, and taking a more mature role in the home environment.
Patients often use their past experiences and earlier relationships with others (predominately the relationships between themselves and their parents or siblings), and relocate their perception on these relationships and dynamics, onto their present relationships with others. In effect, they attempt to recruit people in the present, to play the roles of those in their past. This was first realized by Freud as Transference.
Transference is also brought into the therapy room, as patients can paint the therapist with the colours of their past relationships. Initially, Freud found the transference to restrict his progress with the patient, however, he then realized the transference to be of one of the biggest helps in his analysis. He saw that the transference could be analysed to help him reach an enhanced understanding of what is going on within the patient, and their relationships with others.