Current concepts of transference 1

Abstract

There are few current problems concerning the problem of transference that Freud did not recognize either implicitly or explicitly in the development of his theoretical and clinical framework. Originally, transference was ascribed to displacement on to the analyst of repressed wishes and fantasies derived from early childhood. The transference neurosis was viewed as a compromise formation similar to dreams and other neurotic symptoms. Whenever indicated, interpretation must deal with transference manifestations, which means, in effect, that the transference must be analysed. The process of analysis, however, is not exclusively ascribed to transference interpretation. In considering next problems of transference in relation to analysis of the transference neurosis, two main points must be kept in mind. First, those who emphasize the analysis of defence tend to make a definite differentiation between transference as therapeutic alliance and the transference neurosis as a compromise formation. In second place, the role of regression in the transference situation is subject to wide differences of opinion.