What Does Transfer And Counter-transfer Mean?

Transfer and counter-transfer are two basic terms in psychoanalysis. They are fundamental in clinical practice and although they are two different concepts, transmission and countertransference are clearly inseparable.

The patient-analyst interaction turns into a space where the subconscious can circulate as freely as possible. This is where the dynamics between patient and analyst can create transference and countertransference

What is transfer?

The concept of transference is not exclusive to psychoanalysis. It refers to the idea of ​​moving or replacing one place with another. You can see it in relationships such as between a doctor and a patient, or a teacher and a student.

When it comes to psychoanalysis, it is understood as a re-creation of childhood fantasies, which helps the analyst to diagnose potential problems. Transfer means that a person puts something earlier on something current, with the goal of healing.

At first, Freud saw transmission as a major obstacle to the therapeutic process. He considered it to be the manifestation of a patient who opposes access to his subconscious thoughts and feelings. However, it did not take long for him to realize that his role exceeded that resistance.

This is how Freud transfer as a paradoxical phenomenon in his essay Zur Dynamik Der Übertragung 1912 (eng. Title: Dynamics of transference , trans. To transfer the tension of ). Although it can be a source of resistance, it is fundamental to an analyst. He distinguishes the positive type of transmission – tenderness and love – from negative transmission, which is full of hostile and aggressive emotions.

Contribution to the concepts of transference and countertransference from other psychoanalysts

After Freud, many articles have been written on the subject of transmission. They have rethought the whole subject and at the same time compared it with the original development of the phenomenon. They all agree that this is what happens in the relationship between the analyst and the patient during therapy.

According to psychologist Melanie Klein, it is a re-introduction of the patient’s unconscious fantasies. During the analysis, the patient will evoke his own psychic reality . He will use the analyst to relive unconscious fantasies.

According to pediatrician Donald Woods Winnicott, the phenomenon of transmission in the analysis can be understood as a copy of the connection to the mother. Thus arises the need to abandon strict neutrality. The way in which patients use the analyst as an object of transfer creates another dimension to transfer and interpretation. This is described in his essay of 1969 ” The use of an object ” (trans. “The use of an object” ). Here he confirms that the patient needs the therapeutic link to confirm his existence.

Transfer link

As we said, the transfer has to do with the re-creation of childhood fantasies by the patient using the analyst as a character. For this to happen, they must establish a transmission link.

To create the link, the patient first accepts his desire to work with what is happening to him, then he meets an analyst who should know something about what is happening to him. Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan called this analyst “the subject to know.” In this way, they reach the first level of trust in the relationship, which then paves the way for analysis.

To avoid traps

But on this journey, problems may arise that the analyst should be aware of and respond to in a timely manner. The patient may show signs of falling in love with the therapist. They can regularly make inquiries about how attractive they are, and try to turn the analyst into their lover.

They can also fall into the trap of obeying and listening to the therapist without any questioning. Another thing to watch out for is rapid improvements without any real work being done. There are more subtle signs as well, such as patients often being late for meetings or talking too much about other therapists.

Of course, the problems are not always just on the patient’s side. There may also be counter-transmitting manifestations. The analyst must also be attentive and analyze himself. If the analyst begins to argue with the patient, or has impulses to ask for services, he or she should be very careful.

The analyst may begin to dream about the patient and become interested in exaggeration. Failure to keep a safe distance or experience intense emotional reactions related to the patient is also a sign of danger.

What is countertransference?

Freud introduced the term countertransference in his essay from 1910, Die Chancen Zukünftigen Der Psychoanalytischen Therapie (eng. Title: The future perspectives of psychoanalytic therapy , trans. Prospects of psychoanalytic therapy ). He describes it as the analyst’s emotional response to stimuli coming from the patient. This emotional response is a result of its impact on the analyst’s subconscious emotions.

The analyst must be aware of this as they can become an obstacle to healing. Others, however, argue that anything that is perceived as countertransference – the things that have nothing to do with the analyst – can be returned to the patient.

It may be that the feelings that the patient evokes in the analyst, after they have been returned to the patient, generate greater awareness or understanding of what is happening in the therapeutic relationship. It may be something that the patient would not have articulated until at that moment.

For example, if the patient relives a childhood scenario, the analyst may begin to feel sad. However, the patient could interpret it as rage. If the analyst then returns what he knows to the patient, the patient can join the real feeling hidden behind the perceived anger.

The relationship between transmission and countertransference

On the one hand, we can define the countertransference through its direction: the analyst’s feelings towards the patient. On the other hand, we can define it as a balance that serves as proof that one person’s reaction is not independent of what they get from the other person. In this way, countertransference is related to what happens during transmission, and one affects the other.

Therefore, countertransference can be an obstacle if the analyst acts on it. He can let his feelings towards the patient lead him away from love, hate, rejection, anger, etc. In this case, he violates the rules of abstinence and neutrality that he should follow. Instead of helping, he hurts.

The patient tries to communicate his experiences. The analyst should only respond to what the patient says and not let his own feelings influence what he says. The patient relives the fantasies and handles them. However, he does not do it consciously, and that is why interpretation plays a fundamental role in healing.

Functions for transmission and counter-transmission

Analysis presupposes a transfer link from patient to analyst. This connection between transference and countertransference becomes the place where emotions, unconscious desires, tolerances and intolerances will manifest.

From this transfer relationship, the analyst will be able to create the necessary interventions. It can be interpretations, accusations or the end of the session. A transmission link is crucial for a thorough analysis.

In the analytical relationship, the analyst must be strictly neutral. He must listen without letting his own feelings and his own life story affect things. The analyst must become a kind of blank slate on which the patient can record his subconscious thoughts and feelings.