Measuring Transference Phenomena with Fmri

Transference has been a core concept of the psychoanalytic model of the mind ever since its introduction by Freud in 1895 (Laplanche and Pontalis 1967). Throughout the many controversies and vicissitudes of psychoanalytic theory over the past century, the emphasis on transference as a reliable psychological phenomenon and essential ingredient in psychoanalytic treatment has not weakened. Moreover, while many psychoanalytic concepts have either been adopted into mainstream psychology (e.g., somatic drives, the unconscious, defense mechanisms) or marginalized (e.g., the death instinct, penis envy), transference has maintained its status as an essentially psychoanalytic concept not integrated into other models of the mind or other modes of psychotherapy.

In a seemingly unrelated sphere, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and diagnostic psychiatry have been moving over the past decade to a greater emphasis on social cognition and interpersonal functioning (Insel 1997; Ochsner and Lieberman 2001). Quantitative researchers who historically have emphasized concrete cognitive processes such as those directly related to intelligence, memory, and perception, or related psychiatric symptoms, now acknowledge the importance of having a better understanding of social interactions and associated cognitions. Research has begun to link neurocognitive developmental deficits in certain disorders to impaired social cognitive processes (Akshoomoff, Pierce, and Courchesne 2002). There is also growing evidence that affect dysregulation, as in borderline personality disorder, is associated with impairments in specific areas of social cognition, a finding that begins to explain the strong association between early traumatic experience and later psychiatric illness (Fonagy et al. 1996; Paris et al. 1999).

The importance of processes such as transference and social cognition becomes most clear in a third domain, that of psychotherapy