Projective Identification as a Defense Mechanism when Facing the Threat of an Ecological Hazard

Abstract

The article examines the psychological use of projective identification to deal with the threat inherent in a severe ecological hazard. When information was uncovered regarding the high incidence of cancer diagnosed among Israeli soldiers who trained in a polluted river during their military service in an elite commando unit, a group of parents came together to demand that the state take responsibility for the sick soldiers. In contrast, their soldier-sons preferred to continue identifying with the army's position, which denied the connection between cancer and training in the polluted river. We argue that when fear arises for the lives of the soldier-sons they project their unbearable parts into their parents, who hold their projected parts and take concrete action, and relieve them of the struggle between the pole of life and the pole of death. The process ends when the state finally acknowledges its responsibility for the soldiers, thus enabling transformation.