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The Following description attempts to assess the value of transference and of counter-transference experiences in analysis. The patient's confusion about personal identity was pervasive and dramatically expressed in his marriage. This confusion was apparent from the start of his analysis but in the transference-counter-transference situation it became intrusively apparent and could be worked with after the first year of analysis when separation between the patient and his wife took place.
The theme of ‘living through' within the analytical framework then became particularly important to this patient's development and only subsequently did increase of conscious understanding follow. He has been able to recognize, and sometimes to own, parts of himself which had previously seemed lost within a confused pattern of interlocking and ego-defeating family behaviour.
These recognitions in ownership reveal ego growth, and were to be seen first in external changes—in work and personal relationships, etc. But his central confusion about himself remains, and the risk of saying, ‘I am’, ‘I will’, or ‘I do’, carries a penalty which he can only very slowly begin to face directly during his sessions with me.
Before going on to describe details of the transference and the counter-transference, here are some facts about Desmond's history obtained during the first year, followed by an account of the separation from his wife which occurred at the end of it: (a)History
Desmond, who is now in his middle forties, is a successful teacher in modern languages in a large mixed school. He came for analysis almost four years ago. He has one younger brother, now successfully married. Much of his