Projective Identification as a Regulator in the Group Process: The Three Levels of Interaction in Analytic Groups

Three levels of interrelationship have been found in therapeutic groups. The first is the basic narcissistic-fusional level, which brings about the cohesion and closeness of group members. The second is marked, on the one hand, by the archaic form of ego-perfornance, projective identification, which leads to distancing and therefore has a regulating function, and, on the other hand, by higher forms of active egoperformance such as identification, projection, transference, differentiation from objects and so on. The third level is that off free decision. Level one processes, however, continue to operate beneath the other two levels.