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Indian caste system: Historical and psychoanalytic views
Abstract
This paper elucidates the historical origins and transformations of India's caste system. Surveying the complex developments over many centuries, it points out that three positions have been taken in this regard. One suggests that the caste one is born into can be transcended within one's lifetime by performing good deeds. The other declares caste to be immutable forever. And, the third says that one can be reborn into a higher caste if one lives a virtuous life. Moving on to the sociopolitical realm, the paper notes how these positions have been used and exploited. The paper then attempts to anchor the existence and purpose of the Hindu caste system in Freud's ideas about group psychology and Klein's proposals of splitting and projective identification. The paper also deploys the large group psychology concepts of Volkan and the culturally nuanced psychoanalytic anthropology of Roland and Kakar. It concludes with delineating some ameliorative strategies for this tragic problem in the otherwise robust democratic society of India.
... This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. ingrained socially stratifying system that differentiates people by class, region, religion, tribe, and language (Vallabhaneni, 2015). Although the initial conceptualization focused on personal attributes and functions, it has become a process determined by birth (i.e., one is born into a caste). ...
... Despite several social movements in India and the Asian Indian diaspora, the abolishment of the caste system, and protective policies (i.e., affirmative action) to address inequities, this socio-cultural-political system has been intertwined within the Indian psyche and continues to exert a pervasive influence through prejudicial socialization practices promoting educational, occupational, and social hierarchies and segregations (Inman et al., 1999;Vallabhaneni, 2015). Communal censures (i.e., community policing that dictates maintaining a certain structure or function) reinforce collective norms and play a significant role in maintaining ethnic credibility and relationships within this community (Inman, Howard, et al., 2007;Inman et al., 1999). ...
Identity formation among immigrant communities, particularly for ethnic–racial minorities like Asian Indian Americans, is a multifaceted process. Shaped by preimmigration histories of British colonization and the caste system and the Indian diasporic postimmigration, experiences of physical and psychological displacement alongside racism in the United States contribute to the complexity of identity for this community. Although existing racial and ethnic identity models offer valuable frameworks, they may not fully capture the nuanced in-between spaces created by the intersectionality of ethnicity and race for Asian Indian Americans in the United States. Drawing from psychological critical race theory (CRT), Asian CRT, DesiCRT, and colonial mentality framework, this article proposes a unique identity model tailored to Asian Indian American experiences. Drawing from recent research, the model illuminates the dynamics of pre- and postimmigrant frictions in the negotiations and coping inherent in Asian Indian American identity formation. By using a multidimensional lens that captures tensions between ethnic identities based in sociopolitical histories and dominant societal categorizations and racism in the United States, this model aims to provide a more comprehensive and strength-based understanding of Asian Indian American identity development across the lifespan of multiple generations.
... Specifically, for many consumers, their choice of terms to describe a Louis Vuitton handbag or a Rolex watch might include "high-status," "upper-class," or "top-shelf" (Bellezza & Berger, 2020;Han, Nunes, & Drèze, 2010). The notion that higher in the vertical plane is somehow "better" than lower dates back almost three thousand years to ancient Hindu scriptures (Vallabhaneni, 2015). Humans therefore for a long time have been using spatial metaphors to describe what is in front of them, with locations in the metaphorical vertical plane (high/low) describing the object's appeal, quality, or value. ...
... Such metaphors may have originated in ancient civilisations where social stratification was rigid and obvious. For example, evidence from the Vedic period (1750BCE) of ancient India suggests that ancient Hindu scriptures depicted four "varnas" or levels of society emanating from four parts of the body of "Virata Purusha" or "Cosmic Man" (Vallabhaneni, 2015). Notably, the highest level with the greatest prestige and status is associated with the mouth, while the lowest, least desirable level is associated with the feet. ...
Consumers describe luxury goods as “high-status” goods that are associated with the “upper class.” If these spatial metaphors are valid, then consumers should prefer luxury goods being positioned higher in the visual field in a consumer setting, which would be because of the psychological theory known as “processing fluency.” Fluency occurs when there is a congruence between two concepts, facilitating ease of processing and thereby liking. We test the effect of high (vs. low) spatial positioning for luxury goods in an online retailing context. Across three experiments, we observe that placing luxury goods higher on a website “matches” consumers’ lay associations about such items, with the positive feelings thereby transferring onto the luxury good. The findings demonstrate that locating luxury products at different heights in the visual field can influence product preference. In doing so, we build on existing theory concerning visual perception, spatial metaphors, and processing fluency.
... Further, scheduled tribes tend to live in geographically isolated lands with poorer infrastructure. Backward caste denotes individuals who are economically and socially disadvantaged but do not belong to the scheduled castes as originally enumerated [12][13][14] . Individuals identifying as other caste are the least economically and socially disadvantaged. ...
... Given the majority of deaths occurred in the first 48 h ( N = 92; 80% of all deaths), we examined predictors of mortality at both 2 days and 30 days, controlling for state. ( Tables 5 and 6 , respectively) Regardless of timeframe, abnormal mental status was the strongest predictor of mortality (2-day adjusted OR: 14.9 (8-29); 30-day adjusted OR: 7.5 (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)). For both 2-day and 30-day models, factors easily assessed by an EMT (age, mental status, oxygenation, and blood pressure) were most predictive of mortality. ...
Background:
Traumatic injury continues to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC). The World Health Organization has called for a strengthening of prehospital care in order to improve outcomes from trauma. In this study we sought to profile traumatic injury seen in the prehospital setting in India and identify predictors of mortality in this patient population.
Methods:
We conducted a prospective observational study of a convenience sample of patients using a single emergency medical services (EMS) system for traumatic injuries across seven states in India from November 2015 through January 2016. Any patient with a chief complaints indicative of a traumatic injury was eligible for enrollment. Our primary outcome was 30-day mortality.
Results:
We enrolled 2905 patients. Follow-up rates were 76% at 2 days, 70% at 7 days, and 70% at 30 days. The median age was 36 years (IQR: 25-50) and were predominately male (72%, N = 2088), of lower economic status (97%, N = 2805 used a government issued ration card) and were from rural or tribal areas (74%, N = 2162). Cumulative mortality at 2, 7, and 30 days, was 3%, 4%, and 4% respectively. Predictors of 30-day mortality were prehospital abnormal mental status (OR 7.5 (95% CI: 4-14)), presence of hypoxia or hypotension (OR 4.0 (95% CI: 2.2-7)), on-scene mobility (OR 2.8 (95% CI: 1.3-6)), and multisystem injury inclusive of head injury (OR 2.3 (95% CI: 1.1-5)).
Conclusions:
EMS in an LMIC can transport trauma patients from poor and rural areas that traditionally struggle to access timely trauma care to facilities in a timeframe consistent with current international recommendations. Information readily obtained by EMTs predicts 30-day mortality within this population and could be utilized for triaging patients with the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality.
... Over the course of South Asian history, a fifth group, Dalits (formerly known as "untouchables") was designated to those considered outside of the traditional varna classification. Increasingly, each of the four major varnas were thought to carry certain social status, varna designations became more rigid, and Shudras and Dalits became viewed as subhuman and as contaminants to people in the higher castes (Vallabhaneni, 2015). Caste in India, similar to race in the United States, is a system encompassing the notion that human beings are by birth separate and distinct from each other, and its effects are pervasive across religious lines. ...
... Madhusudana Rao Vallabhaneni (2015) described the splitting and projection of the bad self as unconscious mechanisms through which the Brahmin frees the self of distress and oppresses the Dalit, such that good affects and objects are preserved for the Brahmin. Indians, regardless of whether or not they are Hindu, cannot escape the influence of caste in interpersonal contexts (Roy, 2017;Vallabhaneni, 2015). This is evident in social sanctions concerning marriage within castes. ...
The presence and growing visibility of racial minority immigrants in the United States and across the globe has triggered a sense of collective anxiety, where dissociative defenses maintain emotional distance and identification with groups perceived to be threatening. Fringe movements and mainstream political parties have framed immigrants and refugees as the major cause of unemployment, crime, and a threat to their cultural and social fabric. Recent policies in the United States, such as those resulting in heightened policing of Black and Brown people and deportation of undocumented immigrants and separation of children from parents, have made explicit the connection between racism and xenophobia. These macrolevel policies and the broader xenophobic and racist sociopolitical climate in which they are implemented have important implications for intrapsychic life and interpersonal relationships. This paper explores psychoanalytic perspectives on the roots of xenophobia, racialized defenses, and their implications for the experiences of racial minority immigrants in the United States. The paper further addresses how the fear of immigrants reflects anxiety in multiple dimensions, involving not only fears of the receiving context or the host country, but also the xenophobia that immigrants carry with them from their countries of origin. The implications of xenophobia and racism are explored in the context of the therapeutic relationship, where the client and the therapist engage in difficult and emotionally charged ways with respect to the current sociopolitical climate. Clinical examples are provided to illustrate transference and countertransference dynamics, and related dilemmas centered on xenophobia and racism that arise in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
... Rural or socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are more impoverished compared to urban areas because the caste system actively discriminates and segregates low-income people. When individuals are born into poverty and the rural areas of India, they are subject to deprivation in job opportunities and healthcare resources [30]. Having low SES in India usually means that the individual lacks public hospitals in their community, has low healthcare coverage, and is uneducated about the medical system [31]. ...
Background
The prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDPs) in India is 11%, which is one of the highest rates globally. Existing research on HDPs in India primarily focuses on biological risk factors, with minimal research on how socioecological factors combine to increase risk of HDPs. We conducted a rapid review using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model to understand the social and cultural factors associated with HDPs among Indian pregnant women to identify possible intervention targets that may uniquely improve health in this population. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model is a framework that can be used to understand the complex relationship between multiple influences on health.
Methods
We reviewed studies published between January 2010 and January 2024 using PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus databases. Search terms included variants of hypertension, pregnancy, and India. Inclusion criteria were: (1) peer-reviewed journal article; (2) published between January 2010 to January 2024; (3) participants consisted of Indian women living in India; (4) studies evaluated socioecological risk factors associated with HDPs. One independent reviewer performed searches, screening, data extraction, and quality assessment. Each included study was then organized within Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model.
Results
A total of 921 studies were generated from the initial search, with 157 exclusions due to duplicates. Following screening for inclusion and exclusion criteria at the title/abstract and full text levels, 17 studies remained in the final review. Socioecological risk factors of HDPs were identified at each level, with the most commonly identified influences including: low socioeconomic status (SES), lacking community education and knowledge on HDP management and prevention, and lacking prenatal HDP screening.
Conclusion
This study determined that the high risk for HDPs in India is influenced by many intertwined socioecological factors. Women in rural and low SES areas need more health education on HDP management and prevention. There also needs to be more adequate prenatal HDP screening, with at least 4 and ideally 8 prenatal visits. Prenatal screenings should be accompanied with culturally appropriate patient education, especially for low SES women who have limited literacy, so that they can effectively make individual and microsystemic lifestyle decisions aimed at either managing or preventing HDPs.
... Specifically, the caste system and history of British colonization in India have been found to be significant factors in shaping how race and racism are conceptualized among 1st generation Indian Americans (Inman et al., 2015;Nikalje & Çiftçi, 2023). Although the caste system originated in Hinduism, Indians affiliated with other faith traditions such as Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism are also affected by the pervasiveness of caste and social class demarcations, along with British colonization in India (Vallabhaneni, 2015). ...
Few studies have focused on the racial socialization of Indian Americans, particularly those raised in the United States. The present study explored 1.5 and 2nd generation Indian Americans’ experiences of racial socialization in multiple contexts. Forty-four adult Indian Americans from diverse regions of the United States participated in semi-structured focus group interviews via video teleconference. Sixteen participants were 1.5 generation and 28 were 2nd generation. Data was analyzed using grounded theory. The results indicated three interrelated domains including: (a) Discussion of Race and Racism; (b) Awareness of Self in the Context of Racial and Cultural Differences; and (c) Role of Intra- and Inter-group Biases. The findings underscore how the minimization of racism within and outside of Indian American contexts, a colonial mentality transmitted intergenerationally, and negative impacts of casteism, sexism, and racism may influence one’s racial consciousness and racial socialization. Implications for culturally informed research, practice, advocacy, and training are detailed.
... Another reason for staying in place is community. Staying in a community meant that a societal code of conduct was practiced which, in the case of Uttarakhand, means that a social stratification of the caste system was maintained (see Vallabhaneni, 2015). Interviewees identified themselves along a social hierarchy and expected others to reciprocate accordingly. ...
... If age was "0", sex was missing, and there was no indication that the condition was neonatal, the age was re-coded as missing; otherwise, it remained as "0". Social status was defined by using the proxy variable of caste with routinely used categories [10][11][12]. Individuals identifying as "other caste" are the least economically and socially disadvantaged; "scheduled caste", "backward caste", "other backward caste", and "scheduled tribe" are the most disadvantaged. ...
Background:
Millions of children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience illness or trauma amenable to emergency medical interventions, but local resources are not sufficient to treat them. Emergency medical services (EMS), including ambulance transport, bridge the gap between local services and higher-level hospital care, and data collected by EMS could be used to elucidate patterns of paediatric health care need and use. Here we conducted a retrospective observational study of patterns of paediatric use of EMS services by children who used EMS in India, a leader in maternal and child EMS development, to inform public health needs and system interventions to improve EMS effectiveness.
Methods:
We analysed three years (2013-2015) of data from patients <18 years of age from a large prehospital EMS system in India, including 1 101 970 prehospital care records across 11 states and a union territory.
Results:
Overall, 38.3% of calls were for girls (n = 422 370), 40.5% were for adolescents (n = 445 753), 65.9% were from rural areas (n = 726 154), and most families were from a socially disadvantaged caste or lower economic status (n = 834 973, 75.8%). The most common chief complaints were fever (n = 247 594, 22.5%), trauma (n = 231 533, 21.0%), and respiratory difficulty (n = 161 120, 14.6%). However, transport patterns, including patient sex and age and type of destination hospital, varied by state, as did data collection.
Conclusions:
EMS in India widely transports children with symptoms of the leading causes of child mortality and provides access to higher levels of care for geographically and socioeconomically vulnerable populations, including care for critically ill neonates, mental health and burn care for girls, and trauma care for adolescents. EMS in India is an important mechanism for overcoming transport and cost as barriers to access, and for reducing the urban-rural gap found across causes of child mortality. Further standardisation of data collection will provide the foundation for assessing disparities and identifying targets for quality improvement of paediatric care.
... It is I who am the maker of this Chaturvarna." For further discussion see here Vallabhaneni (2015), who writes: "Because it is a closed order of stratification determined by birth alone, the Indian caste system imposes inescapable limitations on social status, access to privileges, wealth and resources for individuals and families." Vallabhaneni (2015, 362) also clarifies that 'jati' means "'birth' and, therefore, represents the genetic ethnic communities that transcend or exist independently of varna divisions. ...
Contemporary India is governed, as a matter of law, by its constitution, and therefore represents itself as a democracy, notwithstanding resurgent ideological visions of "cultural nationalism" emphasizing Hinduism as a national religion, i.e., "Hindutva." However, India continues to experience the onus of its classical and colonial history, as the caste structure of its society remains firmly intact. Caste is represented to be an expression of both Hindu orthodoxy (correct belief) and orthopraxis (correct conduct), both of which arise from the "Hindu scriptures," including here the written tradition of Vedas and Upanishads (shruti, "what is heard") and the oral tradition of Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, and Ramayana (smriti, "what is remembered"). This tradition provides a "world-image" and a "theodicy"/"cosmodicy" (justification of "God") in concepts of dharma (moral duty), karma (reward and suffering), samsara (rebirth), and moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirth). Where egalitarianism is championed in Western cultural metaphysics, communitarianism with a structured hierarchy is considered central to a South Asian cultural metaphysics, as represented, e.g., by Hinduism/Brahmanism. At issue for some who have been ethically critical of the caste system, such as sociologist Max Weber and Indian intellectual B.R. Ambedkar, is the cultural metaphysics (represented by the "Hindu scriptures") that sustains ritualistic adherence to caste, with its persistent discrimination and inequality. There are others (e.g., Sri Lankans Adam L. Barborich and Asantha U. Attanayake) who reject moral critique arising in the West, on the grounds that Western ethical theories are merely "ideological," i.e., they advance "Orientalist" or Protestant-Christian perspectives that are in fact only historically contingent, thus neither necessary nor universalist, and that in fact serve the entirely political interests of Western global hegemony. Such "ethical" perspectives, it has been argued, are advanced ideologically, thus in a way that seeks to "decontest" the basic concepts and meanings central to ethical theories or religious traditions. Yet, there remains the question whether Hinduism/Brahmanism is to be evaluated as an "incoherent" and "ethically irrational" framework of beliefs and practices; whether its caste structure is to be judged as a social practice that is horrendous, inexcusable, and abysmal in the sense of lacking rational legitimation; and, therefore, should remain contested in contemporary moral discourse. This essay engages this question and argues for continued ethical contestation of the caste structure of contemporary Indian society.
... The first emergence of "organized Hindu cow protection" occurred around 1870, as British domination was consolidating and attempts were made to mobilize Hindus and Muslims against each other(Anderson & Jaffrelot, 2018;Jha, 2009). 7 SeeVallabhaneni (2015) for a psychoanalytic study of the caste system. 8 Yet, the colonizer's work is never done. ...
Hindu supremacist ideology and Hindu nationalism are recently resurgent in India's far‐right government. This ideology has manifested itself in increased religious intolerance and human rights violations, including escalating oppression of religious and other minorities, journalists, civil rights advocates, and others. Using psychoanalytic theories of social trauma, groups, and prejudice, I link present‐day disturbances to the profound social trauma engendered by the colonial occupation of India by the British in multiple forms for nearly 200 years.
... I chose India and China because not only does colorism appear to play a major role in both countries, but also they contain the largest populations in Asia. Moreover, India is currently struggling with the aftermath of its caste system, which was deeply rooted in the classification of people according to their skin color (e.g., Jogdand, Khan, & Mishra, 2016;Vallabhaneni, 2015). These searches yielded a total of 4 studies when searching on "colorism" and 21 studies when searching on "skin color." ...
A strong preference for fair skin appears to be the norm across the Asian continent and may pervade many aspects of social life. Yet scholarly work on this ubiquitous phenomenon is rare within psychological science. This article is a call for a psychological investigation into colorism in Asia. I argue that colorism has firm systemic roots as a result of the sociohistorical trajectories of different Asian societies that have attached cultural meanings to skin color.
Consequently, similarities and differences in such trajectories may account for variability in the expression of colorism
within contemporary Asian societies. Directions for a cultural psychological approach to colorism are suggested.
This paper highlights how researchers are subjugated through hegemonic academic norms and how they simultaneously recognize the privileges attached to their subject positions. I illustrate difficulties in negotiating my privileges, particularly of caste, and my experiences of marginalisation as a ‘third world woman’ in the European academy. Such competitive insecurity is illustrative of both neoliberal logics of enterprise and responsibility as well as caste-based logics of merit and deservingness. Academia as a field of knowledge production historically consolidates power in the hands of a shrinking set of elites. Attitudes of competition and uncertainty produce subjects that turn to selfinterested modes of acquiring and analysing data, thereby producing hegemonic knowledges, which ignores the situatedness and politics of the research context. Caste is addressed together with gender, coloniality, ability, sexuality and ethnicity (among other subjectivities) as an intersectional co-producer of exclusion. Invoking caste-based imperialist logics is essential for unpacking the privileged subjectivities that produce elitism and exclusion in academia and in knowledge production.
Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest and largest religious traditions. For centuries, non-Hindus have spoken for Hindus and Hinduism in secular, university-based academic settings. For the past 30 years, Hindu and non-Hindu scholars influenced by postcolonial studies have questioned how Hinduism is represented in such settings. This chapter provides statistics on Hinduism, reviews dominant representations of Hinduism in religious studies and mental health scholarship, and critiques such representations for striving to impose conceptual unity on a vast diversity of human experiences. Mental health providers can learn most about what is relevant for individual Hindu patients by adopting the person-centered cultural formulation approach that affirms the value of dialogue similar to the Hindu tradition of samvāda.
Medical and public health research supports an ongoing need for health promotion in meeting menstrual hygiene needs, including menstrual hygiene management (MHM) education and the adoption of reusable sanitary napkins. This quality improvement project focuses on menstruation education for adolescent girls in rural Tamil Nadu, India and the promotion of reusable sanitary napkins. Results indicate a significant improvement in MHM knowledge, confidence in managing menstruation, adoption of reusable sanitary napkins, and a decrease in missed school days. These findings support global recommendations for health promotion in India.
This article discusses continuities between the discourse of caste in ancient India, the racialization constitutive of the Enlightenment, and a similarly exclusionary, overdetermined conception of worthlessness—the lazy, immoral, deviant minorities—evident in contemporary racism as much as in the abandonment of a global underclass. We argue that the negative marking of a social condition or group as inferior and subhuman (on all kinds of grounds, moral, aesthetic, and intellectual) has been constitutive of the paradigms in which these societies subsist. The practices and project of all that is good is shadowed by this negative, its infectious, abominable presence. Analytically bringing together the politics of the homo sacer with the social psychology of abjection, we argue that such exclusion is as vested in politics and economic interests as in their psychic correspondences.
In a sensitive and compelling account of the lives of those at the very bottom of Indian society, Oliver Mendelsohn and Marika Vicziany explore the construction of the Untouchables as a social and political category, the historical background which led to such a definition, and their position in India today. The authors argue that, despite efforts to ameliorate their condition on the part of the state, a considerable edifice of discrimination persists on the basis of a tradition of ritual subordination. Even now, therefore, it still makes sense to categorise these people as 'Untouchables'. The book promises to make a major contribution to the social and economic debates on poverty, while its wide-ranging perspectives will ensure an interdisciplinary readership from historians of South Asia, to students of politics, economics, religion and sociology.
Feelings, impulses, wishes, and fantasies-the dynamic content of the inner world-occupy the deepest recesses of the psyche. It is through introspection and empathy, essential to psychotherapy, that the outside observer can grasp the meaning of the inner world of an individual. First published in 1978 and hailed by critics globally as the best application of psychoanalysis to Indian culture, The Inner World is an inquiry into the development of Indian identity. It examines the network of social roles, traditional values, and customs with which the threads of Indian psychological development are interwoven and, in doing so, reveals important aspects of Indian society, myths, rituals, fables, and arts.
This book is the French translation of 'Introduction to the work of Melanie Klein' which appeared in 1964. It is based on a series of papers read at the Institute of Psychoanalysis. The eight subjects comprise an introduction to further study of the literature. Nearly all chapters are devoted to the phenomena of paranoid schizophrenia r depression.
The discord between the subjectivity of minorities and their ecological and cultural surround often causes them chronic mental pain. The unease felt by minorities arises from their being used as dehumanized targets of the majority's projections, as well as from the figure-ground discord in their subjectivity. Seeking to anesthetize their distress, minorities retreat from social participation, nostalgically idealize times and places where they were not the minority, dream of times or places which could accord them majority status again, exalt fundamentalism, and, at times, discharge impotent rage via acts of ‘terrorism’. Far better than such turn of events are developments that follow when minorities assert their rights and the majority realizes the benefits of collaboration. Societal measures that assure minorities' presence in textbooks of history and their representation in embodied communal narratives (e.g. statues, memorials) go a long way in diminishing their distress. Protection and/or restoration of their rights to vote, run for office, have freedom of movement and expression, and own property are also important. Finally, judicial provision of designating prejudicial acts of violence as hate crimes too increases the sense of minorities' safety. All this is not only good for them; it is beneficial for the society-at-large and raises all sections of society to a higher humanitarian ground.
The Indian Caste System is historically one of the main dimensions where people in India are socially differentiated through class, religion, region, tribe, gender, and language. Although this or other forms of differentiation exist in all human societies, it becomes a problem when one or more of these dimensions overlap each other and become the sole basis of systematic ranking and unequal access to valued resources like wealth, income, power and prestige. The Indian Caste System is considered a closed system of stratification, which means that a person’s social status is obligated to which caste they were born into. There are limits on interaction and behavior with people from another social status. Its history is massively related to one of the prominent religions in India, Hinduism, and has been altered in many ways during the Buddhist revolution and under British rule. This paper will be exploring the various aspects of the Indian caste system related to its hierarchy, its history, and its effects on India today.
The concepts of identity, self and self-representation have been discussed extensively in psychoanalytic metapsychology. These concepts are at times confusing and are used interchangeably by various authors. Regardless of what one calls it, what one experiences in a given moment is one's representation as an analyst or a father or a son or daughter, depending on the situation one is in. This paper describes such state-dependent self-representations as an aspect of the self and argues that state-dependent self-representations are probably more clinically relevant and useful in day-to-day practice.
I have presented clinical material to illustrate how a pathological organization can be considered to exist in an equilibrium with the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions. While making use of paranoid-schizoid mechanisms such as primitive splitting and projective identification, the defensive structure is highly organized and held together by narcissistic intrapsychic relationships in which perverse gratification plays an important role. This organization of defences seems to be designed to produce a place of real or illusionary safety from the anxieties experienced in the other two positions. All individuals fluctuate in the defences they employ and hence can be thought of as moving between these organizations and the other two positions. They consequently demonstrate some evidence of paranoid-schizoid level function and also of the existence of pathological organizations even if they may function in a relatively mature way at other times and in other settings. In some patients however the pathological organization dominates the personality and leads to analyses which become fixed and stuck. It is argued that a recognition of these organizations of defences enables the analyst to orient himself more accurately to the clinical material and hence to address himself to the patient at a level he can understand.
This paper suggests that literature concerning projective identification has excessively focused on the projection of unwanted aspects of the self without giving adequate consideration to projective identification involving good qualities. It is proposed that clinical advantages may derive from dividing projective identification into positive and negative components. This division allows a more ready emphasis on the capacity for beneficial object relations which even psychotic individuals retain despite their obvious hostility. Case vignettes are provided to demonstrate positive projective identification and to emphasize the clinical usefulness of this concept.
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