Source
r/psychoanalysis•
TonyStackSullivan

"Omnipotent control": What is it? Any examples?

I have no clue. Here are some places I've seen it brought up - but its almost ways in passing.

What exactly is this referring to? Is it manipulative behavior?

Definition of projective identification on APA dictionary:

in the object relations theory of Melanie Klein, a defense mechanism in which a person fantasizes that part of his or her ego is split off and projected into the object in order to harm or to protect the disavowed part, thus allowing the individual to maintain a belief in his or her omnipotent control. (source)

via Ahkhtar's Comprehensive dictionary of Psychoanalysis, Klein's Defenses against envy:

according to Melanie Klein (1957), the main defences against envy are

(i) contempt and devaluation,

(ii) omnipotent control, and

(iii) narcissistic withdrawal.

By contempt and devaluation, the subject seeks to diminish his estimation of the object.

By exerting omnipotent control, the subject forcibly takes over the envy producing qualities of the object.

By narcissistic withdrawal, the subject shuns envy arousing objects and thus reduces his suffering.

Though evident in individuals with all severe personality disorders, the use of these mechanisms is most marked in narcissistic personalities.

Akhtar, Salman. Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (p. 71). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

From Psychoanalytic terms and concepts' article on Omnipotence:

Klein (1935) elaborated on Freud’s ideas about omnipotence in her formulations of infantile mental life, describing how “phantasies” of omnipotence play a role in what she called the “manic defense” against the anxieties of the depressive position. Phantasies of total control soon became referred to as omnipotent control (Riviere, 1936). Klein (1946) later described how, during the paranoid- schizoid position, in order to defend against overwhelming anxiety, the infant splits the object into all- good and all- bad aspects with the aim of protecting good experience from aggression. As part of this split, the infant idealizes the good object, which is imagined to be omnipotent; he also maintains a phantasy that he has the power for omnipotent annihilation of the bad, persecutory object. Working within the Kleinian framework, Rosenfeld (1971a, 1971b) later described the role played by omnipotent control in narcissistic object relations. Th object, or part object (usually the breast), may be omnipotently incorporated and treated as the infant’s possession; or the mother (or breast) may be used as a container into which unwanted parts of the self are omnipotently projected.

Auchincloss, E. L., Samberg, E., & American Psychoanalytic Association. (2012). Psychoanalytic terms & concepts.

Long-term hospitalization (up to several years), concomitant with intensive, psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy, may be quite successful in improving chronic self-mutilators, if the treatment setting is able to contain the patient’s efforts to omnipotently control his environment by means of actual or threatened self-mutilations

Kernberg, Otto F. Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism (The Master Work Series) (p. 120). Jason Aronson, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Some fleeting references from Kernberg:

The consistent examination of defenses in the transference then becomes extremely difficult. Thus, for example, the need for omnipotent control of an object may be expressed in the patient’s unconscious feeling that when he possesses medication, he has control over the therapist.

ibid (p. 132).

Winnicott:

The mother, at the beginning, by an almost 100 per cent adaptation affords the infant the opportunity for the illusion that her breast is part of the infant. It is, as it were, under the baby’s magical control. The same can be said in terms of infant care in general, in the quiet times between excitements. Omnipotence is nearly a fact of experience. The mother’s eventual task is gradually to disillusion the infant, but she has no hope of success unless at first she has been able to give sufficient opportunity for illusion.

Winnicott, D. W. (1953). Transitional objects and transitional phenomena; a study of the first not-me possession. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 34, 89–97.

​

Normal behavior vs omnipotent control?

How is having "life goals" not omnipotent control?

Throwing an egg at a car's windshield while someone is driving gets control of the driver's emotions. They're red in the face - the egg thrower made it happen.

​

Discussion

Where are some more papers on this subject? What are some ways omnipotent control happens in real life?

Posted Mar 23, 2022, 9:29 AM UTC · edited

79
BoreOfWhabylon•

I don't know if this helps, but my understanding of most of those definitions is that it's a phantasy of omnipotent control, so whether or how it plays out in real life won't necessarily be literally omnipotent.

Having life goals isn't literally omnipotent control because you don't have control over all the things that will affect your ability to execute them. You could be someone in quite an omnipotent state of mind, who behaves as though you believe you can just make them happen; or you could have quite a different attitude.

10
BoreOfWhabylon•

Also, since you like a dictionary definition, and references, here's the relevant entry from the New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought:

Omnipotence
Klein observed in her clinical work with small children that much of their thinking was omnipotent, in that it did not conform to accepted views of reality. Much of this thinking Klein regards as normal: the introjection of good objects, for example, and the child’s consequent belief that such objects are supporting him, and, equally important, the belief that he might be taking in bad objects that were attacking him internally. Klein regards such thinking as part of normal development and does not usually describe it as omnipotent.
Together with splitting, denial and sometimes idealisation, Klein regarded omnipotence as one of the defences defending the personality from the anxieties of the paranoid-schizoid position, and to some extent from the anxieties of the depressive position as well (Klein, 1935 p. 277; 1946, p. 7; 1952a, 1952b). She also pointed out that omnipotent phantasies of destructive attack tended to be stronger and more persistent than omnipotent phantasies of reparation and restitution (Klein, 1932, pp. 172–173; Klein, 1955, p. 158).
Klein, M. (1932) The Psychoanalysis of Children. The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 2. London: Hogarth Press.
——(1935) ‘A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states’, in The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 1. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 262–289.
——(1946) ‘Notes on some schizoid mechanisms’, in The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 3. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 1–24.
——(1952a) ‘The origins of transference’, in The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 3. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 48–56.
——(1952b) ‘Some theoretical conclusions regarding the emotional life of the infant’, in The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 3. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 61–93.
——(1955) ‘On identification’, in The Writings of Melanie Klein, Vol. 3. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 141175.

5
sir_squidz•

good catch bringing up the normality of these functions.

we ask a profession tend to focus on the pathological and forget that we use these defences even in health

3
sir_squidz•

What are some ways omnipotent control happens in real life?

it doesn't

it happens in the individuals phantasy life.

it's in the quotes you gave, albeit poorly described.

Long-term hospitalization (up to several years), concomitant with intensive, psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy, may be quite successful in improving chronic self-mutilators, if the treatment setting is able to contain the patient’s efforts to omnipotently control his environment by means of actual or threatened self-mutilations

so in this case, the patient is trying to control the environment by using threats of self-harm to blackmail the org into playing into their phantasy of omnipotent control. If the patients ACTUALLY had omnipotent control they would need no blackmail, it'd just happen

the outside doesn't match the inside - which is unbearable so they attempt to force it to match

4
gigot45208•

Does this overlap at all with projective identification?

3
homoludens•

What are some ways omnipotent control happens in real life?

Like others said it happens in a persons fantasy, example is hungry baby craying and, lo and behold, food comes, the same baby is cold and cries and someone tucks it in... pretty much omnipotent from baby's point of view.

But it can carry itself in later life and cause problems whenever we discover we are not omnipotent and we become weak. Hance splitting can be connected to it, all mighty vs all weak.

3
Asdiwal•

This is an interesting point of divergence between the Kleinian and Lacanian schools: for the latter, the omnipotence in this example would be on the side of the mother.

1
bewilderingtracks•

Not sure if you’re only interested in this term in how it is described within the work of Klein, but when I first saw your post I thought it was going to be in reference to Winnicott who to my understanding played with this term a lot. Not sure if it’s possible to search the APA dictionary to search the term and also filter for Winnicott references, but may help to elucidate the concept further. I also just flipped to the index of my copy of Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory by Greenberg and Mitchell (which is where I think I was first exposed to the idea) and seems like the idea of Omnipotence also comes up in Mahler and Kohut’s approaches within that particular text.

2
Shimishimia•

It's interesting. This is manipulative first with self then with others along the magnification of the super omnipotent ego. That Klein observed it more for destructive behaviours than reparative, explains well the whole mecanism of confusion of self, omnipotence fantasies and pathological deliriums/hidden places that fear can lead to. This makes me think of "perspectivism", a hunting practice developped in the forrest by amazonians, linked to presence and sharpened senses. Maybe yes anxiety of finding food. But I wonder philosophically where this is located compared to the objet a. of Lacan, and how this can be used to get someone, or people, into "possession" (and they become more manipulable than manipulative).

2