Identification with the Aggressor (German : Identifizierung mit dem Angreifer) [1] is one of the forms of identification conceptualized by psychoanalysis. Specifically, it is a defence mechanism that designates the assumption of the role of the aggressor and his functional attributes or the imitation of his aggressive and behavioral mode, when a psychological trauma poses the hopeless dilemma of being a victim or an abuser. [2] This theoretical construct is also defined as a process of coping with mental distress [3] or as a particular case of zero-sum game. [4]
The concept was first introduced by Sándor Ferenczi in his clinical diary in June 1932 [5] and then developed in his paper "The Passions of Adults and their Influence on the Development of the Character and the Sexuality of the Child" (German : Die Leidenschaften der Erwachsenen und deren Einfluß auf Charakter und Sexualentwicklung des Kindes) [6] for the 12th International Psycho-Analytic Congress in Wiesbaden, Germany, in September 1932. [7] [8]
He further elaborated this work until he published it in 1949 in The International Journal of Psychoanalysis with the new title "Confusion of the Tongues Between the Adults and the Child—(The Language of Tenderness and of Passion)". [9] In 1936, Anna Freud took up and developed the concept in her book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (German : Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen). [1] [10]
The experiment conducted in 1963 by Elliot Aronson and J. Merrill Carlsmith on the forbidden toy seems to endorse such a hypothesis and therefore this type of dynamic: one attributes oneself a mutilation of one's own desire in order to perceive oneself as autarkic, independent and not submissive. [11]
In 2019, Yael Lahav, Anat Talmon, and Karni Ginzburg developed the Identification With the Aggressor Scale (IAS), [12] a self-reported questionnaire that assesses identification with the aggressor based on the theory of Sándor Ferenczi. Utilizing the IAS, various quantitative studies among survivors of child abuse and intimate partner violence have documented the phenomenon of identification with the aggressor and revealed its negative implications for survivors’ well-being. These implications include dissociation [12] , self-injurious behavior, urges to harm others, violent acts toward others, [13] suicidal ideation and behavior, [14] willingness to return to an abusive relationship, [15] eating disorders, [16] feelings of guilt, [17] sexual re-victimization, [18] as well as PTSD and CPTSD. [19]