The “Paranoid-Schizoid” Position, Integration, and the “Depressive” Position
In classical Kleinian theory, the process of integrating the all-good and all-bad internalized split objects results in a sense of almost unbearable loss. The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought (Routledge, 2011) describes the process that occurs as the individual lowers the staunch, binary protection “on behalf of the [all good] object” as an experience of “remorseful guilt” and “poignant sadness.” This acute sadness is a by-product of the maturation process, in which our caregivers become real, integrated individuals with concomitant realistic limitations. We must dispense with the fantasy of a rescuing and omniscient object, and thus dispense with our own sense of [infantile] omnipotence, as well. A sense of being disloyal to or of betraying the idealized object is another, though less often discussed, aspect of this integration. Maturation thus involves sadness and anger.
A sense of abandonment by the idealized all-good object works in tandem with the sense of having abandoned the all-good idealized object. This explains the fierce loyalty in terms of defending and protecting abusive parents that many who work in the social service sector observe in their young patients. This same binary defensiveness accompanies projections onto idealized political figures and explains the way that demagoguery can take root among large parts of the polity by eliciting the most primitive and undifferentiated aspects of the individual. The internalized split finds a holding environment—and an externalized validation of the fantasy of omnipotence—among fellow “true believers.” In this way, the paranoid-schizoid position in the individual transfers to a national level. The process of assimilation in historically marginalized ethnic, racial, gendered, and religious groups is another place where this split is evident. It tends to manifest in the many anxious and ambivalent aspects of what W.E.B. DuBois termed “double consciousness.” The anxiety that is experienced by individuals experiencing delayed integration is actually anxiety for the internalized object, which is now, paradoxically, in danger from the very individual who is experiencing the anxiety.
Rupture and Repair
As individuals work through the maturation process, they begin to find ways to reconnect with the loved-and-hated object through what is understood as a cycle of rupture and repair. The “object” will do something that elicits the dominance of the hated, all-bad object. Usually, these are small things involving a failure to respond adequately to a demand or desire or need. These failures are imperative for mother-infant individuation, as they help to establish a state of “optimal frustration,” in which the infant can gradually establish its own capacities for self-soothing. There failures can also serve as the tentative beginnings of self/other differentiation that will lead to an integrated, imperfect internalized object representation later on. The cycles of rupture and repair actually strengthen, rather than diminish the relational bond. However, the cycles are strengthening the bonds only if the attachment pattern has been relatively secure and reasonable, realistic expectations of caregiver response have been established.
The Mind of Another
The ability to infer the mental states of others develops within an affective attachment context. Failures in this early developmental realm result in much of the behavior of BPD-disordered patients. The mystification in which they experienced early attachment leads to a distrust of others’ motives. It also leads to the BPD’s inability to “read” behavior accurately and make sound judgements about what other people are thinking, feeling, or intending. This has been detailed in depth by Anthony Bateman and Peter Fonagy in their work at the Anna Freud Centre in London and has led to the development of mentalization-based treatment of MBT—though it should be noted that Bateman and Fonagy locate the attachment disorder in a disorganized rather than anxious/ambivalent attachment pattern. The disorganized attachment pattern, less binary and more chaotic than the anxious/ambivalent pattern, is a more recent addition to the classic patterns and can be understood as an extension of the “mystification” that takes place in the absent/invasive scheme. It is this same mystification that impacts the sense of reality of those who are working with these individuals.
