L'alliance introjective, une hypothèse clinique pour penser les pathologies du lien

Abstract

The introjective bond: a clinical hypothesis for considering bonding pathologies. The aim of this article is to formulate a definition of a particular defence mechanism, termed introjective bond, and which is unique to bonding pathologies. The author briefly reviews the various bonding pathologies in the field of psychopathology which have been determined as a result of psychopathological and phenomenological research, and emphasizes the divergent approach to the ‘theoretical conclusions’ drawn by Sàndor Ferenczi and Melanie Klein. The concept of an introjective bond, which arises in borderline pathologies, in particular in cases of perversion, is a means of considering a defence mechanism that operates conjointly within the intra- and inter-subjectivity, and which in addition provides a link between the psychopathology of the adult and that of the child. As the sense of neurotic guilt is thus removed, this mechanism allows the Self to create its own reality and to introject its own representation of alterity. Presenting this situation in a factitious manner, ie, under the form of factitious bonds, the subject subsequently asks the object (the other) to assist him in facing the threats to which he is exposed. This ‘negative seduction’ model provides a basis for a clinical approach toward infantile hyperactivity and subsequent therapy, with the nota bene that the therapist should remain fully aware of the child's possible attempts to provoke him into entering into a certain complicity of action. This article concludes by raising the question of the position of the ‘therapeutic bond’ in the treatment of such bonding pathologies.