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In discussing transference and countertransference, one could simply say that these concepts do not exist in the Horneyan system. That would be true, but it would not explain anything. One could also state what Horneyan concepts are more or less equivalent to these Freudian ones. This, too, would be simple; however, simplicity does not necessarily facilitate understanding. I will attempt to show that it is not possible to translate, as it were, the Freudian concept into a corresponding Horneyan one. The reason for this is rooted not only in the difference in terminology but also in the divergence of basic perspectives, their premises, and their philosophies.
The general term used by Horney to convey her concept is the analytic relationship or the doctor-patient relationship. But why, you may ask, didn't she leave alone a concept that is so useful, so concise, and so definable as is transference? Why does she put into its place another one that is more vague and less specific? Let us recall that transference, according to Freud, represents a rebirth of emotional reactions that are infantile and irrational, that originally were directed at the parent of the opposite sex at the time of the development of the oedipus complex, and that now are transferred to the person of the analyst. This concept, which seems so simple, is fraught with consequences.
In the first place, Freud postulated that the oedipal development is ubiquitous, i.e., that it is a stage of the psychosexual development undergone by the majority of or even the whole population. Horney did not believe this to be so. On the other hand, she did not doubt that at times we have occasion to observe clinical pictures that correspond to the Freudian concept in question. This, she considered to be a pathological phenomenon.
In this context, it is interesting to speculate about the relationship between culture and historical period on the one hand, and the frequency with which psychological disturbances appear on the