What Is Transference

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WHAT IS TRANSFERENCE?

Transference, as defines by our book “Theories of Personality”, is the “strong, undeserved feelings that the patient develops toward the analyst during the course of treatment. These feelings may be either sexual or hostile, but they stem from the patient’s earlier experiences with the parents”. Meaning patients treat the analyst the same way they had treated their parents in the past. Transference can be positive or negative or counter. Positive transference is the projection of positive, good feelings from the patient to the analyst. According to Freud as long as there was positive transference in a therapy session, transference does not interfere with the healing process. Positive transference lets the patient relive childhood experiences in a non-threatening environment. Talking about these experiences gets the patient to realize what the problem is and they are able to control it or eventually cure themselves. Negative transference is the projection of negative feelings and thoughts from the patient to the analyst. Negative transference means that the patient is resisting the treatment. They will have to get over the fact that they are they and that they need help. “Resistance can be a positive sign because it indicates that therapy has advanced beyond superficial material”. Countertransference is projection of feelings from the analyst to the patient, whether positive or negative. Carl Jung was the first to see and understand countertransference. Countertransference can be a help or a hindrance to a session depending on whether it leads to a better therapist-patient relationship.
Sigmund Freud was the first person to realize that transference is necessary for a complete and successful therapy session. Transference is used to make what is unconscious conscious. In several sessions Freud started to see that patients would often react to him as though he were their mom or d...