Apparent Absence of Transference: A Special Instance of Transference Neurosis

This article will review the dynamics of a case during a phase of an apparent absence of transference at the height of the transference neurosis. The discussion will introduce the term generalization 1 as a form of general interpretation of the transference which includes transference; extratransference; and current, genetic, psychic, and external-reality possibilities. This article will also describe the transference expectation of countertransference by the patient as well as aspects of the actual countertransference through an analysis of a case by a candidate analyst influenced by the context of the larger psychoanalytic milieu.

While the centrality of transference in analysis has come to be increasingly accepted, there has been and continues to be debate about the decrease or absence of the transference in a properly conducted analysis. One view is that only a fraction of the potential transference can be engaged in a given analysis, or that transference may even be silent, while another argues that it is always present. Between these views are various positions both for and against these respective arguments.

In “Analysis Terminable and Interminable,” Freud (1937) indicates that significant conflicts may not appear in the transference because they are no longer active in the patient's current life, casting doubts about whether the transference neurosis precisely duplicates the content of the preexisting