Notes on some schizoid mechanisms.
I propose to summarize some of the conclusions presented in this paper. One of my main points was the suggestion that in the first few months of life anxiety is predominantly experienced as fear of persecution and that this contributes to certain mechanisms and defenses which characterize the paranoid and schizoid positions. Outstanding among these defenses is the mechanism of splitting internal and external objects, emotions, and the ego. These mechanisms and defenses are part of normal development and at the same time form the basis for later schizophrenic illness. I described the processes underlying identification by projection as a combination of splitting off parts of the self and projecting them on to another person, and some of the effects this identification has on normal and schizoid object relations. The onset of the depressive position is the juncture at which by regression schizoid mechanisms may be reinforced. I also suggested a close connection between the manic-depressive and schizoid disorders, based on the interaction between the infantile schizoid and depressive positions.
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Klein