Monsters, Dragons and Superstars. The Analysis of a Five-Year-Old Suicidal boy With Notes on Changes in Projective Identification and Symbolization

This paper describes the analysis of a small boy, David, who presented with a high degree of psychic pain & distress & who wished his own death. Through the description of David’s analysis, the author highlights the progressive changes in the manifestations & psychic functions of projective identification. These changes were closely associated with higher levels of symbolization & the beginning of differentiation between self & object representations. (46 refs.)