The transference and countertransference in Psychoanalysis

If there is something that characterizes the psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud, 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 raised as a tool made to deal with the unwelcome effects of having an unconscious that is too "rebellious". An unconscious that, surreptitiously, guides and influences our way of acting at all times. 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 the past experiences that left a mark on our unconscious. The transference is, precisely, the way in which the ideas and feelings about ties with people with those that we have related to before are projected towards another person, even if it is the first time we see them.

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

Starting from the ideas of Sigmund Freud, transfers are closely related to the earliest and most emotionally relevant ties to people, which in most cases are relationships with parental and maternal figures. Interaction with fathers and mothers (or their surrogates, according to Sigmund Freud) would leave very important marks on the unconscious, and these could manifest themselves in future transfers.

The transference during psychotherapy

Although theoretically the transfer is a generalized phenomenon that occurs in our day to day, Sigmund Freud put special emphasis on the need to consider the effect that transference has during psychoanalysis sessions. After all, Freud believed, the context in which the therapy is performed does not automatically override the functioning of the unconscious, and the unconscious continues to be governed by its rules.

Therefore, during the sessions the transfer can occur, which It would mean that the patient projects onto the analyst contents of his unconscious and revives affective ties from the past. In this way, according to Freud, the patient will see how his relationship with the psychoanalyst will have reminiscences of already lived relationships, however illogical it may seem. He may fall in love and out of love with the analyst, dislike him, hate him as an important figure from the past was hated, etc.

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

The types of transfers

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

• The positive transfer It is one in which the affections projected towards the analyst are friendly or related to love. This type of transfer is desirable if it is not very intense, but if it becomes too intense it is very harmful, since it leads to romantic infatuation, obsession and a eroticization extreme of the therapeutic relationship that supposes the end of this.

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

Countertransference

The countertransference has to do with the feelings and ideas that the analyst himself projects onto the patients from their past experiences, unconsciously.

For Sigmund Freud it was very important that each psychoanalyst knew how to detect the effects that countertransference had about their way of relating to patients and their motivations when it came to Deal with them. After all, he believed, analysts are still human beings by virtue of having a specific profession and knowledge of psychoanalytic theory, and his 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, starting from his own subjectivity and the network of meanings, memories and unconscious beliefs, use your own point of view to reorganize the patient's speech into a meaningful whole that expresses the root of the disease. In this way, countertransference can be understood as one of the processes that intervene in therapeutic daily life.

However, some authors have decided to use a narrower definition to refer to what the term "countertransference" means. In this way, the countertransference becomes the way in which the psychoanalyst reacts to the patient's transferences. The use of these two meanings can cause confusion, because they are very different: one applies to specific moments, while the other encompasses the entire therapeutic process in psychoanalysis.

Transference and countertransference in psychology

Both transference and countertransference, as concepts, were born with the psychoanalytic current that Freud founded. Outside the psychodynamic current to which psychoanalysis belongs, these are ideas taken into account in some eclectic approaches, such as Gestalt therapy, but have no real value for psychology inheriting 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 transfer or countertransference. They are concepts that can only be used to describe states of subjectivity that, by virtue of be, they cannot be verified or quantified or used in hypotheses that can be validated scientifically. Therefore, these concepts are alien to current scientific psychology and, in any case, they are part of the scope of the history of psychology and the humanities.

Bibliographic references:

• Roudinesco, Élisabeth (2015). Freud. In your time and ours. Madrid: Editorial Debate.