#transference #countertransference #psychoanalytictheory

Transference occurs when a person redirects some of their feelings or desires for another person to an entirely different person.

One example of transference is when you observe characteristics of your father in a new boss. You attribute fatherly feelings to this new boss. They can be good or bad feelings.

As another example, you may meet a new neighbor and immediately see a physical resemblance to a previous spouse. You then attribute mannerisms of your ex to this new person.

Transference can happen even in the face of distinct differences. It often makes you look past these dissimilarities to the likenesses.

Transference can also happen in a healthcare setting. For example, transference in therapy happens when a patient attaches anger, hostility, love, adoration, or a host of other possible feelings onto their therapist or doctor. Therapists know this can happen. They actively try to monitor for it.

Sometimes, as part of their therapy process, some therapists even actively encourage it. As part of psychoanalysis, therapists try to understand a person’s unconscious mental processes. This can help them comprehend that patient’s actions, behaviors, and feelings.

For instance, the therapist may see an unconscious reaction to intimacy in their patient’s inability to form strong bonds with significant others. Transference can help the therapist understand why that fear of intimacy exists. They can then work toward resolving it. This may help the patient develop healthy, long-lasting relationships.

How is transference used in therapy?
Transference in therapy may be unintentional. A patient redirects feelings about a parent, sibling, or spouse onto the therapist.

It could also be intentional or provoked. Your therapist may actively work with you to draw out these feelings or conflicts. This way they can better see and understand them.

In all cases, a therapist should make the patient aware of when transference is happening. This way you can understand what you’re feeling.

Unaddressed transference can be problematic for the patient. It may even prevent them from returning for treatment. This is counterproductive.

Here are some of the situations a therapist may intentionally use transference:

Transference-focused psychotherapy
In a well-established therapy relationship, a patient and a therapist can choose to use transference as a tool of treatment.

Your therapist may help you transfer thoughts or feelings about a person onto them. Then your therapist can use that interaction to better understand your thoughts and feelings.

Together, you can develop better treatments or behavioral changes.

Dynamic psychotherapy
This is most often a short-term form of psychotherapy. It relies on the therapist’s ability to quickly define and breakthrough a patient’s problems.

If these issues involve feelings or thoughts about another person, the therapist may purposefully try to upset their patient with that information.

This type of transference can help the therapist develop more quickly an understanding and begin treatment.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
If you’re open to understanding how your past has shaped your current problems, your therapist may use CBT.

CBT ultimately teaches you to understand your old behaviors so you can recreate newer, healthier ones. This process may bring up emotional issues that remain painful.

Transference in this situation can happen when the patient finds in the therapist a source of comfort or hostility that heightens some of those feelings.

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