The role of extratransference interpretation in the theory of technique has been insufficiently defined and only tangentially

discussed. Extratransference interpretation refers to interpretation that is relatively outside the analytic transference relationship. Although interpretive resolution of the transference neurosis is the central area of analytic work, transference is not the sole or whole focus of interpretation, or the only effective "mutative" interpretation, or always the most significant interpretation. Extratransference interpretation has a position and value which is not simply ancillary, preparatory, and supplementary to transference interpretation. Transference analysis is essential, but extratransference interpretation, including genetic interpretation and reconstruction, is also necessary, complementary, and synergistic. Transference is a repetition that requires analysis of its genetic sources in childhood conflict and fixation. Transference and reality, past and present, are newly defined, understood, and integrated in the analytic process.