Transference neurosis
Freudian concept
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Through Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
Basic characteristics
Transference neurosis can be distinguished from other kinds of transference because:
- It is very vivid and it rekindles the infantile neurosis.
- It is generated by the feelings of frustration that the analysand inevitably experiences during sessions, since the analyst does not fulfill the analysand's longings.
- In transference neurosis the symptoms are not stable, but they are transformed.
- Regression and repetition play a key role in the creation of transference neurosis.
- Transference neurosis reveals the particular meanings that the analysand has given to current infantile relationships and events, which generate internal conflicts between wishes and particular defenses formed to strive against them. These meanings are united and create several transference patterns.
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Resolution
Once transference neurosis has developed, it leads to a form of resistance, called "transference resistance". At this point, the analysis of the transference becomes difficult since new obstacles arise in therapy, e.g. the analysand may insist on fulfilling the infantile wishes that emerged in transference, or may refuse to acknowledge that the current experience is, in fact, a reproduction of a past experience. However, the successful resolution of transference neurosis through interpretation will lead to the lifting of repression and will enable the Ego to solve the infantile conflicts in new ways. Furthermore, it will allow the analysand to recognize that the current relationship with the analyst is based on repetition of childhood experiences, leading to the detachment of the patient from the analyst.
The replacement of the infantile neurosis by transference neurosis and its resolution through interpretation remains the main focus of the classical psychoanalytic therapy. In other types of therapy, either the transference neurosis does not develop at all, or it does not play a central role in the therapy process. Although it is more likely for transference neurosis to develop in psychoanalysis, where the sessions are more frequent, it may also appear during psychotherapy.