🔼: [[💠 Adaptive Strategies]] \#️⃣: # What is it? Introjection is an unconscious [[💠 Adaptive Strategies|💠 Psychological Defence Mechanism]] through which the voices, behaviours, attitudes, expectations and beliefs of the influential people we grew up around (like a parent) become internalised into the [[📕 Psyche]]. The term was first introduced by [[👤 Sigmund Freud]], then later expanded upon by psychoanalysts like [[👤 Melanie Klein]] and [[👤 Sandor Ferenczi]]. > [!hint] In other words… > It means becoming identified with someone else’s beliefs and ideals, and then taking them on as if they were your own. Introjection is a normal psychological process that happens to almost everyone, and the content that is introjected into the [[📕 Psyche]] can either be negative or positive (particularly when one is consciously taking on external beliefs), but when speaking about Introjects in relation to [[📕 Trauma]], it’s usually in the context of early childhood experiences where [[📕 Parts]] in the [[📕 Psyche]] split off from the rest of the system to protect the child (more on this below). > [!note] > Someone on YouTube explained Introjects simply as "*What we accepted about ourselves in childhood*"[^1], but I'd say "*What we had no choice but to accept about ourselves in childhood*" would be more accurate. # Why does it happen? Introjection can happen at any time during someone’s life, but it’s usually more prominent in early childhood, and this is for a few reasons. Children rely heavily on their parents/caregivers for safety, validation, acceptance and love, and if they learn that expressing themselves as they are leads to painful and/or invalidating experiences, the safest thing for them to do from there is to take on the beliefs of the caregiver so they can proactively save themselves from experiencing that pain or validation again. So it becomes a way to cope with painful experiences and stress, but it also secures their attachment and helps to form their identity (if they take on their caregivers beliefs, then they can keep themself safe and therefore understand their place in the world). If the beliefs of the parent/caregiver are particularly strong, or are accompanied by abuse or neglect, that’s when they become ‘Introjects’ or [[📕 Parts]], but there's a nuance worth noting. While almost all of our [[📕 Parts]] feel like they're apart of us or from us, Introjects will typically feel like they are not apart of us, though sometimes they can be sneaky and disguise themselves as our own. # How does it work? An Introject is formed as part of the personality to hold onto an internalised belief from someone else that the [[Self]] can’t handle. This introjected [[Part]] of the [[📕 Psyche]] then identifies with the person from who the belief came from, beginning to act and sound exactly as if it where them. For example, if a child couldn’t handle the belief that they are weak and vulnerable, an introjected [[Part]] might form that adopts the belief “I am like my strong, abusive father,” even go so far as to identify with him by acting and feeling like him. The following [[💠 Adaptive Strategies]]s are involved and/or related to the process of Introjection (not an exhaustive list—to be updated over time): 1. [[🧩 Splitting]] 2. Where in [[⚛️ Projective Identification]] someone is projecting outward the parts of themselves they cannot accept onto another in such a way that causes them to experience those projections, Introjection would be the receiving person identifying with (via [[🧩 Identification]]) those projections. # ⚡️ Connections *Other notes that share connections, links or insights with this note.* ## To other modalities or schools of Psychology > [!danger] In [[🏫 Jungian Psychology]]… > Introjects link to what’s known as the [[Inner Protector-Persecutor]]. Jungian Analyst [[👤 Donald Kalsched]], who’s work I really enjoy consuming, speaks about a [[🧩 Self-Care System]] which goes into detail about this very process. > [!danger] In [[🏫 Internal Family Systems (IFS)]]… > These are just treated as if they were [[📕 Parts]] because IFS is non-pathologising, however they do make note to separate Introjects out into their own distinct [[Part]] type which they call the [[🧩 Unattached Burden]]. > [!danger] In DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)… > They call these ‘Alters’[^2] which form in early childhood due to intense and/or repeated abuse and neglect, and they effectively mirror the abuser, except it takes place in the internal [[📕 Psyche]]—sometimes in addition to the external abuse or neglect, which is terribly sad. [^1]: [Spit Out what was Introjected in Your Childhood | Complex Trauma Recovery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUhEy2rhwXk) [^2]: [Introject Alters – Learn About DID](https://www.learnaboutdid.com/2023/04/30/introject-alters/#:~:text=Introject%20alters%20mirror%20the%20trauma,person%20who%20might%20harm%20you.)