Ego States and Projective Identification: A Six-Stage Relational Methodology

Abstract This article presents a two-part framework to support relational transactional analysis practitioners in understanding and working through projective identification in clinical practice. It begins with a brief description of projective identification as communication and emotional regulation, including how it may be understood as part of a two-person psychology. The models presented are supported by diagrams illustrating intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics as well as by clinical vignettes. The framework is applied to examples of negative and positive transference.