Transference Theory

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Transference:
Transference is when a client unconsciously projects onto their therapists past feelings, desires, expectation or attitudes they had toward their caregivers or significant people in their lives (Corey & et. al, 2011). Transference can originate from early childhood experiences and memories. The client is viewing the therapist in a distorted way. Instead of seeing the therapist as a professional, the clients see the therapist as a parent, or another significant person in their lives. Clients can come off as hostile and anger towards the therapist in a therapeutic session when a client displays negative transference (Corey & et. al, 2011). Transference can help the therapist understand the relationships that clients have had …show more content…

Some theorists believe that the interaction between patient and psychotherapist is influenced by the patient’s past or current relationships and affective experiences (Johansson, 2010). These theorists believed that it is important to focus on themes and conflicts that occur in the therapeutic relationship because they will have immediate affective resonance and illuminate the true nature of problems in the patient’s relationships outside of therapy (Johansson, 2010). The goals of psychodynamic therapy are to make the client self-aware and understand the influence of the past on present behavior. Psychodynamic approach allows the client to examine unsettled issues and symptoms that occur from previous dysfunctional …show more content…

Freud thought that neurosis was largely a function of the repression of unacceptable ideas and impulses, and it would be natural for clients to resist the emergence of these ideas during the course of therapy (King & O’Brien, 2011). As repressed thoughts began to emerge, the client would seek any convenient distraction or diversion ((King & O’Brien, 2011). Who better than the person of the therapist, who is both conveniently, present in the immediate conscious experience of the client and is also the inquisitor responsible for activating these unwelcome thoughts (King & O’Brien, 2011). Furthermore, this resistance could be served almost equally well by hostility (negative transference) or love (positive transference) (King & O’Brien, 2011). Freud was of the view that a person’s internal representation of relationships was constructed using a template laid down in childhood (King & O’Brien, 2011).
According to Messer (2013), there are three mechanisms of change in psychodynamic therapy: insight, affect, and alliance. The mechanisms are the fulfillment of insight, particularly within the transference; a focus on the patient’s emotion and her resistances against its expression; and the nature of the therapeutic relationship that allows the therapy to progress and eventually succeed (Messer,

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