A belated recognition of strong internal object relations, manifested by a patient's demanding masochistic erotic transference, and accompanying longings for love and sexual gratification, led Gabbard to examine the role of love in the analytic setting—in particular the analyst's own contribution to enactments in which analyst and patient are both involved. Continuing along this path, Gabbard speculated that the identification of these enactments, and of the analyst's countertransference, might serve to resolve therapeutic impasse and curtail the erosion of the analytic work ego.

Gabbard noted that historically transference love has been a constant part of the