The Origins of Transference

TLDR

The chapter examines transference in psychoanalysis, emphasizing that negative and positive transference are interlinked and essential for treating patients of all ages. The author hypothesizes that auto‑erotism and narcissism arise from love for and relation with an internalized good object that forms part of the self. He finds that introjection of the breast initiates superego formation over years, and that analysts sometimes embody both parents, intensifying negative transference in hostile alliances.

Abstract

In this chapter, the author is concerned with the manifestations of transference in psychoanalysis. The analysis of the negative as well as of the positive transference and of their interconnection is, as he have held' for many years, an indispensable principle for the treatment of all types of patients, children and adults alike. The author explains in detail on occasions–the introjection of the breast is the beginning of superego formation which extends over years. He presents his hypothesis: auto-erotism and narcissism include the love for and relation with the internalized good object which in phantasy forms part of the loved body and self. Because the Life and Death instincts, and therefore love and hatred, are at bottom in the closest interaction, negative and positive transference are basically interlinked. Sometimes the analyst appears simultaneously to represent both parents–in that case often in a hostile alliance against the patient, whereby the negative transference acquires great intensity.