You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The application of the metapsychological points of view proves helpful not only in conceptual clarification, but also in enhancing insight into the processes of transference and countertransference running their course in the psychoanalytic situation. The meaning of transference and transference neurosis and the technical implications of this meaning are discussed. Interpretations concerning the relation of our patient's present behaviour and emotional life to the past one, to the family situation, are inadequate if they are based only on a genetic model. The transference relation must not be left out of consideration, and other points of view (e.g. the dynamic one) should be taken into account as well. Character distortions and neurotic configurations take on a new significance when seen in relation to the transference neurosis. Just as the child's behaviour, its tensions, symptoms, defence mechanisms, are an answer to the family situation, so, too, the patient's symptoms and other characteristics are a reflection of his relation to the analyst. A new edition of the neurosis comes into being, but with one decisive difference: emotional tensions can be better eased now because the very strong defence measures of the past are no longer necessary. As to countertransference the distinction is made, using the adaptive point of view, between, on the one hand, feelings towards the analysand which are an answer of the analyst's adult personality to his patient's situation, his fears, pleasures, expectations, and on the other hand, countertransference reactions, which are rooted in the neurotic problems of the analyst and disturb his work. It is pointed out that the frequently occurring countertransference attitude of indulging the patient involves the danger of a transference cure which will not last. After the relationship has been broken off, new depressions