The developmental process and transference follow different directions. Development refers to the progressive changes, and transference to the continuity of the past in the present. Changes due to maturation of the ego equipment, of libidinal phase progression, must be differentiated from those of other ego functions. We cannot expect to apply a unifying developmental concept which regulates all psychic structures and functions.

The complex interrelationship between the developmental pull and transference in childhood is reviewed. The conditions necessary for the emergence of transference and the transference neurosis are examined. Object relation theory adds to the genetic and developmental point of view and it explores the nature of the earliest object and self-representation which continues to influence psychic organization.