Editing Transference (section)

== Transference and counter-transference during psychotherapy ==
{{Broader|Displacement (psychology)|Psychological projection}}
{{See also|Loaded language|Subtext|Egosyntonic and egodystonic}}

Transference will appear in the [[Loaded language|''full speech'']] that occurs during [[Free association (psychology)|free association]], revealing the [[Inverse (logic)|inverse]] of the subject's past, within the here and now, and the analyst will hear which of the [[four discourses]] the subject's desire has been [[Metonymy|metonymically]] shifted to, beyond the ego, leading to a [[Egosyntonic and egodystonic|dystonic]] form of [[Psychological resistance|resistance]].<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Dulsster
 |first=Dries G. M.
 |date=2022
 |title=The Reign of Speech: On Applied Lacanian Psychoanalysis
 |location=Switzerland
 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan
 |page=21
 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-85596-3
 |isbn=978-3-030-85595-6
 |quote=[S]peech in psychoanalysis cannot be distinguished from transference. [...] Lacan refers to Freud who defined transference as: 'the assumption of his own history by the subject, in the measure that he is constituted by the speech directed to another' (Lacan, 1974).}}</ref>

In a therapy context, transference refers to redirection of a patient's feelings for a significant person to the therapist. Transference is often manifested as an erotic attraction towards a therapist, but can be seen in many other forms such as rage, hatred, mistrust, [[parentification]], extreme dependence, or even placing the therapist in a god-like or guru status.  When Freud initially encountered transference in his therapy with patients, he thought he was encountering patient resistance, as he recognized the phenomenon when a patient refused to participate in a session of [[Free association (psychology)|free association]]. But what he learned was that the analysis of the transference was actually the work that needed to be done: "the transference, which, whether affectionate or hostile, seemed in every case to constitute the greatest threat to the treatment, becomes its best tool".<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis'' (PFL 1) p. 496</ref> The focus in [[psychodynamic psychotherapy]] is, in large part, the therapist and patient recognizing the transference relationship and exploring the relationship's meaning.  Since the transference between patient and therapist happens on an unconscious level, psychodynamic therapists who are largely concerned with a patient's unconscious material use the transference to reveal unresolved conflicts patients have with childhood figures.

[[Countertransference]]<ref>[[Horacio Etchegoyen]]: ''The Fundamentals of Psychoanalytic Technique'', Karnac Books ed., New Ed, 2005, {{ISBN|1-85575-455-X}}</ref>
is defined as redirection of a therapist's feelings toward a patient, or more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a patient.  A therapist's attunement to their own countertransference is nearly as critical as understanding the transference.  Not only does this help therapists regulate their emotions in the [[therapeutic relationship]], but it also gives therapists valuable insight into what patients are attempting to elicit from them.  For example, a therapist who is sexually attracted to a patient must understand the countertransference aspect (if any) of the attraction, and look at how the patient might be eliciting this attraction. Once any countertransference aspect has been identified, the therapist can ask the patient what his or her feelings are toward the therapist, and can explore how those feelings relate to unconscious motivations, desires, or fears.

Another contrasting perspective on transference and countertransference is offered in [[classical Adlerian psychotherapy]].  Rather than using the patient's transference strategically in therapy, the positive or [[negative transference]] is diplomatically pointed out and explained as an obstacle to cooperation and improvement.  For the therapist, any signs of countertransference would suggest that his or her own personal [[training analysis (psychotherapy)|training analysis]] needs to be continued to overcome these tendencies.  Andrea Celenza noted in 2010 that "the use of the analyst's countertransference remains a point of controversy".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Celenza|first=Andrea|date=October 2010|title=The guilty pleasure of erotic countertransference: searching for radial true|journal=Studies in Gender and Sexuality|volume=11|issue=4|pages=175–183|doi=10.1080/15240657.2010.513222|doi-access=free}}</ref>