# Introjective identification

- Link: https://clearingintheforest.org/introjective-identification/
- Published: 2026-10-20T21:59:16+00:00
- Author: Saal_clearingforest

[ 🌲 A clearing in the forest ](https://clearingintheforest.org/)

[ All pages ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=267#pages)

[ Freud ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=467)

Freud's friend →

[ Ferenczi ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=468)

Ferenczi's patient →

[ Klein ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=469)

Klein's rival →

[ Anna Freud ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=470)

Klein's patient →

[ Bion ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=471)

Feelings on the Move · 4 of 5

# Introjective identification

Becoming like someone you took in

AF

Meet the person

## Anna Freud

1895–1982

Sigmund Freud’s youngest daughter. She was a schoolteacher first. She came to London
with her father in 1938, and during the Second World War she ran nurseries for children
who’d lost their homes. She and **Melanie Klein** disagreed so strongly that their
arguments got a name: the Controversial Discussions (1941–45). The Anna Freud children’s
centre in London is named after her.

## The idea

Introjection means you _carry_ someone’s voice. Introjective identification goes
further: you **become** like them. Klein named this. Anna Freud described one famous
version in 1936: **identification with the aggressor**. If someone scares you, one
way to stop feeling small is to become the scary one. That’s how a bullied kid can
turn into a bully.

Introjective identification: I don’t just hear you — I turn into you.

## Has this ever happened to you?

Been told off, then told off someone smaller straight after?Copied how someone powerful
walks, talks or dresses?Heard yourself sound like someone you swore you’d never 
be like?Acted tough right after feeling scared?

**Break the chain:** the hurt keeps moving down the line until someone notices it.
That someone can be you.

## Spot it

Priya’s older brother mocks her every day. At school, she starts mocking younger
kids in exactly the same way. What is this?

[ ← Klein ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=469)

[ Next: Container and contained → ](https://clearingintheforest.org/?page_id=471)

▸ For grown-ups: sources

[Ref: Freud A. (1936) The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. London: Hogarth Press,
1937]

[Ref: Klein M. (1955) On identification. In: Klein M., Heimann P., Money-Kyrle R.(
eds) New Directions in Psycho-Analysis. London: Tavistock]

Written by **Dr Saal Seneviratne**, Consultant Psychiatrist at [The Burlington Clinic](https://www.theburlingtonclinic.com),
London · Last reviewed 21 October 2026 · [About these pages](https://clearingintheforest.org/about/)