Transference and Countertransference in Psychoanalysis

What do these concepts developed by Sigmund Freud consist of?

If there is something that characterizes the psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud, it is the emphasis placed on the psychological processes that theoretically occur unconsciously and direct our way of acting, thinking and feeling.

Psychoanalysis was born as an attempt to understand human psychology.but it was also intended as a tool to deal with the unwelcome effects of having an overly "rebellious" unconscious. An unconscious that, surreptitiously, is guiding and influencing our way of acting at every moment. In addition, there are two concepts created to monitor the effect that unconscious forces have on the relationship between patient and analyst. These are transference and countertransference.

What is transference in psychoanalysis?

According to Freud's theories, every time we experience new sensations we are evoking part of past experiences that left a mark in our unconscious. that left a mark in our unconscious. Transference is, precisely, the way in which ideas and feelings about bonds with people with whom we have related before are projected onto another person, even if it is the first time we see that person.

Therefore, transference is the way in which the human mind relives certain experiences related to attachments (which have been fixed in our unconscious) when interacting with someone in the present, according to Freud.

Based on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, transference is closely related to the earliest and most emotionally relevant attachments for people.which in most cases are the relationships with parental and maternal figures. The interaction with fathers and mothers (or their substitutes, according to Sigmund Freud) would leave very important marks in the unconscious, and these could manifest themselves in future transference.

Transference during psychotherapy

Although theoretically the transference is a generalized phenomenon that occurs in our daily lives, Sigmund Freud placed special emphasis on the transference in psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud placed special emphasis on the need to consider the effect that the transference has during psychoanalytic sessions.. Ultimately, Freud believed, the context in which therapy takes place does not automatically override the functioning of the unconscious, and the unconscious continues to govern itself according to its rules.

Therefore, during sessions, transference may occur, which would mean that the patient would mean that the patient projects onto the analyst the contents of his unconscious and relives affective links from the past.. Thus, according to Freud, the patient will see how his relationship with the psychoanalyst will be reminiscent of relationships already lived, however illogical it may seem. He may fall in and out of love with the analyst, feel aversion for him, hate him as one hated an important figure of the past, etc.

But for Freud it was not wrong for a transference to be initiated from the patient to the analyst. In fact, it was part of therapy, since it created an emotional bond from which the therapist could guide the patient in resolving psychological conflicts and trauma-based blockages. In other words, transference would be a necessary ingredient for the therapeutic relationship to be oriented towards the resolution of the patient's problems.

Types of transference

Two types of transference have been hypothesized: the positive transference and negative transference.

• The positive transference is the one in which the affects projected towards the analyst are friendly or related to love. This type of transference is desirable if it is not too intense, but if it becomes too intense it is very harmful, since it leads to romantic infatuation, obsession and an extreme eroticization of the therapeutic relationship, which means the end of the relationship.

• The negative transference is based on feelings of hatred and aversion towards the psychoanalyst. Of course, if it occurs with too much intensity it can ruin the sessions.

Countertransference

Countertransference has to do with the feelings and ideas that the analyst himself projects onto the patients from his past experiences, in an unconscious way. from his past experiences, in an unconscious way.

For Sigmund Freud it was very important for each psychoanalyst to know how to detect the effects that countertransference had on his or her way of relating to patients and on his or her motivations when dealing with them. In the end, he believed, analysts do not cease to be human beings just because they have a particular profession and knowledge of psychoanalytic theory, and their own unconscious can take the reins of the therapeutic relationship for the worse..

For example, during free association it is normal that the psychoanalyst himself, from his own subjectivity and the network of meanings, memories and unconscious beliefs, uses his own point of view to reorganize the patient's discourse into a meaningful whole that expresses what is the root of the ailment. In this way, countertransference can be understood as one of the processes involved in the daily therapeutic routine..

However, some authors have decided to use a more restricted definition to refer to what is meant by the term "countertransference". Thus, countertransference becomes the way in which the psychoanalyst reacts to the transference of the patient. The use of these two meanings can cause confusion, because they are very different: one applies to specific moments, while the other encompasses the whole therapeutic process in psychoanalysis.

Transference and countertransference in psychology

Both transference and countertransference, as concepts, were born with the psychoanalytic current founded by Freud. Outside the psychodynamic current to which psychoanalysis belongs, they are ideas that are taken into account in some eclectic approaches, such as Gestalt therapy, but they are also used in the psychoanalytic process. have no real value for the psychology inherited from the paradigms of behaviorism and cognitive psychology..

The reason is that there is no objective way to establish when there is and when there is not a transference or countertransference. They are concepts that can only be used to describe states of subjectivity that, by the fact of being so, cannot be tested or quantified or used in hypotheses that can be scientifically validated. Therefore, these concepts are alien to the current scientific psychology and, in any case, are part of the field of the history of psychology and the humanities.