Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In psychoanalytic theory, transference refers to the actualization of unconscious wishes or prototypes, particularly within the analytic situation ( Laplanche and Pontalis, 1967 , p. 455). Infantile prototypes, memories, or desires are transferred or projected on to the analyst, and are experienced with a feeling of great immediacy. The process usually entails the identification of the analyst with an important figure from childhood. The term is also sometimes used more generally to refer to all aspects of the patient's relationship with the analyst. Countertransference describes the analyst's unconscious reaction to the analysand, and especially to his or her transference. Initially, F reud took the view that transference was a form of displacement of effect or emotional charges on to the person of the analyst, and that it was to be analyzed and treated like any other symptom. Tranferences were new editions or facsimiles of the impulses and fantasies aroused in analysis ( Freud, 1905 , p. 116). The material appearing in the transference was repetitive, tended to block the emergence of new associations, and could be seen as a form of resistance. Indeed, Freud held (1905) that the inconclusive analysis of the patient known as “Dora” was a direct result of his failure to analyze the transference. In later papers, Freud still refers to transference as an obstacle to analysis, but ... log in or subscribe to read full text