e present” (Conner 2001, 1). The concept of transference was first coined by Freud in his work with patients who often transferred the feelings and attitudes of a past object-relationship onto the therapist during sessions. Greenson argues that “transference reactions occur in all patients undergoing psychotherapy” (Bisbey 1993, 1). This analysis will investigate the concept of transference, including a discussion of its therapeutic counterpart – countertransference. Included in the discussion will be an explanation of the concept, how it occurs in the therapeutic setting, and how it can be harnessed by the therapist in a curative manner. A conclusion will address some contrasting and evolving views of transference that have developed in recent years.
The concept of transference was originally founded by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. During his client sessions Freud recognized that a high number of his patients reacted to him as a parent figure or, in the case of females, fell in love with him. Eventually Freud theorized that the transference process revealed highly significant information about the nature and type of neurosis afflicted the patient. As Bisbey (1993) notes, “He concluded that addressing the transferential relationship between analyst and patient was the curative factor in psychoanalysis, and made interpreting the transference the cornerstone of the theory and practice of psychoanalysis” (1). Since Freud’s work on transference, others like Jung have expanded the concept.
Perhaps the best method of demonstrating how transference arises during therapy and how it is beneficial in a curative manner is providing a cinematic example of it in action. In the film Ordinary People, the character played by Timothy Hutton (Conrad Jarret) suffers from an inability to cope with life since a boating accident took his brother’s life. The analyst as played by Judd Hirsch (Dr. Berger) allows...