Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 52
something about the other‘s experience through unconscious communication that leads to
empathy, sympathy, exploration, and so on.
Later theories about unconscious communication, such as the mechanisms of total and trial
projective identifications, emanate from Melanie Klein, who built upon Freud in the
development of her belief that the internal world of the subject continually transforms and is
transformed by the internal world of other subjects through ongoing and fluid projections
and introjections (1930). According to Segal (1994), the subject translocates split-off
projective identifications into the object and it is the subject who then re-identifies with
these split off parts as a persecutory external object, which contributes to the formation of a
harsh superego when internalized as a persecutory internal object (Grotstein, 1994). Bion
(1950, 1973) describes the function of the mother/therapist as container of the
infant‘s/patient's split-off feelings, returning them in a synthesized and symbolic manner
that carries meaning—i.e., the baby‘s cry/the patient‘s despair is returned by the
mother/therapist by some form of empathic communication.
Basing therapeutic action in cult-recovery treatment on the therapist‘s use of trial projective
identification suggests that the therapist becomes a part of the field at play, or in Sullivan‘s
terms (1953), a participant-observer. For the therapist to accomplish this task with former
cult members, the therapist must remain attuned to the possibility of falling into a folie á
deux total projective identification with the former member in treatment. With trial
projective identification, the therapist, like the mother as container, temporarily identifies
with the patient‘s unconsciously communicated feelings/thoughts and the like, synthesizing
and returning them in unthreatening form. By contrast, the destructive cult leader—like the
mother who cannot contain her infant‘s projective identifications—returns the projective
identifications back to the member in unsynthesized form. For the member, this process
leads to an overwhelmed psyche and increased fusion with the cult leader‘s psyche, which is
reflective of Klein‘s paranoid-schizoid position and characteristic of pathological total
projective identification. In this mode, the bad mother/cult leader/therapist (the feared
persecutory object) and the good mother/cult leader/therapist are split, rather than
experienced as a whole-object that would reflect Klein‘s depressive position and Grotstein‘s
trial projective identification.
Grotstein, building on Bion and Racker, notes that with trial projective identification
The therapist must be able … to absorb … the patient‘s projective
identifications, process them, experience them, suffer them, and yet avoid
total identification with them. She (he) must avoid falling into the trap … of
collusive ‗folie á deux‘ … as real enemy … or any other form of total victim-
counteridentification. The therapist … must have the capacity for non-
retaliatory mercy for his patient … [to] offer a model for the development of a
similar capacity for the patient.‖ (p. 711)
In sum, ―folie á deux‖ and cultic functioning relate to this pathological form of total
projective identification as defensive mechanism. They are characterized by diminished
capacity to think due to splitting and impaired capacity or motivation to symbolize based on
limited or no provision of containment. In this mode, the lack of capacity to symbolize
reflects Abraham and Torok‘s statement, ―the traumatic is all which counteracts the
formation of symbols, and hence of thought ...found in every experience that is impossible
psychically to metabolize … creating wounds in the psychic web...‖ (Yassa, 2002, p. 2). By
contrast, trial projective identification—a nondefensive mechanism that allows for temporary
experience of harsh or anxious feelings projected from outside the individual without
permanent identification with them—reflects normal unconscious communication and
symbolic processes that, as noted above, underlie the capacity for empathy, sympathy,
exploration, probing, and so on. This mode reflects
something about the other‘s experience through unconscious communication that leads to
empathy, sympathy, exploration, and so on.
Later theories about unconscious communication, such as the mechanisms of total and trial
projective identifications, emanate from Melanie Klein, who built upon Freud in the
development of her belief that the internal world of the subject continually transforms and is
transformed by the internal world of other subjects through ongoing and fluid projections
and introjections (1930). According to Segal (1994), the subject translocates split-off
projective identifications into the object and it is the subject who then re-identifies with
these split off parts as a persecutory external object, which contributes to the formation of a
harsh superego when internalized as a persecutory internal object (Grotstein, 1994). Bion
(1950, 1973) describes the function of the mother/therapist as container of the
infant‘s/patient's split-off feelings, returning them in a synthesized and symbolic manner
that carries meaning—i.e., the baby‘s cry/the patient‘s despair is returned by the
mother/therapist by some form of empathic communication.
Basing therapeutic action in cult-recovery treatment on the therapist‘s use of trial projective
identification suggests that the therapist becomes a part of the field at play, or in Sullivan‘s
terms (1953), a participant-observer. For the therapist to accomplish this task with former
cult members, the therapist must remain attuned to the possibility of falling into a folie á
deux total projective identification with the former member in treatment. With trial
projective identification, the therapist, like the mother as container, temporarily identifies
with the patient‘s unconsciously communicated feelings/thoughts and the like, synthesizing
and returning them in unthreatening form. By contrast, the destructive cult leader—like the
mother who cannot contain her infant‘s projective identifications—returns the projective
identifications back to the member in unsynthesized form. For the member, this process
leads to an overwhelmed psyche and increased fusion with the cult leader‘s psyche, which is
reflective of Klein‘s paranoid-schizoid position and characteristic of pathological total
projective identification. In this mode, the bad mother/cult leader/therapist (the feared
persecutory object) and the good mother/cult leader/therapist are split, rather than
experienced as a whole-object that would reflect Klein‘s depressive position and Grotstein‘s
trial projective identification.
Grotstein, building on Bion and Racker, notes that with trial projective identification
The therapist must be able … to absorb … the patient‘s projective
identifications, process them, experience them, suffer them, and yet avoid
total identification with them. She (he) must avoid falling into the trap … of
collusive ‗folie á deux‘ … as real enemy … or any other form of total victim-
counteridentification. The therapist … must have the capacity for non-
retaliatory mercy for his patient … [to] offer a model for the development of a
similar capacity for the patient.‖ (p. 711)
In sum, ―folie á deux‖ and cultic functioning relate to this pathological form of total
projective identification as defensive mechanism. They are characterized by diminished
capacity to think due to splitting and impaired capacity or motivation to symbolize based on
limited or no provision of containment. In this mode, the lack of capacity to symbolize
reflects Abraham and Torok‘s statement, ―the traumatic is all which counteracts the
formation of symbols, and hence of thought ...found in every experience that is impossible
psychically to metabolize … creating wounds in the psychic web...‖ (Yassa, 2002, p. 2). By
contrast, trial projective identification—a nondefensive mechanism that allows for temporary
experience of harsh or anxious feelings projected from outside the individual without
permanent identification with them—reflects normal unconscious communication and
symbolic processes that, as noted above, underlie the capacity for empathy, sympathy,
exploration, probing, and so on. This mode reflects
