Therapeutic approaches to projection

Summary

Four cases are presented which attempt to show other possible therapeutic approaches to projection than the classical one and how the use in clinical practice of the classical concept may tend to limit one's therapeutic effectiveness. The first two cases are not cases of projection, but are rather cases which could easily be misdiagnosed as projection by too mechanical an application of the traditional theory, with the result that important psychopathology may be missed.

The last two cases are clinical examples of projection in which other therapeutic approaches than the classical one were illustrated. If the traditional approach had been used, there would have been a strong tendency to have attributed the distortions in perception to a mere transposition of affects while the more important reasons for the distortions would most probably have been overlooked.