Both/And?

• Projective Identification by Philip Brownell, 11/15/96
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    • To respond is to identify? by Stuart Stawman, 1/22/97
      
      

•Getting back to the example concerning the man who wished to rid himself of his chronic anxiety and so projected it onto his partner. When talking to his partner, he would leave out vital information and would lead her to become anxious. •Did she 'identify with his projection' (which would make projective identification a pretty good name for it, and would also demonstrate, as you have said, someone being confluent with a projection), or did he manipulate the environment so as to facilitate a response in her that aligned itself with his projection? Which would be coercion. •I am inclined to see her resultant state as a personal response to a coercive environment that doesn't provide her with sufficient information to self-regulate smoothly.

The differentiation of 'projection' and 'coercion' is interesting. Perhaps it is "both/and." Let's say the man in the example "manipulate

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