The Anaclitic Countertransference*

This paper will be an attempt to clarify the concept of the positive anaclitic countertransference as clinically observed, identified and labelled by Spotnitz in his treatment of patients whose communications remained repetitive despite having undergone long-term analysis.

Let us start with the word anaclitic, which has been familiar to most of us in its use in the term anaclitic depression, characterizing that morbid infant state that occurs when there is premature separation of the infant from its mother. The word is derived from the Greek anaklitos. Freud, in 1914, made reference to the term anlehungstypus in the context of marital choices. The term simply means “a leaning-on type.” In the translation of Freud's works into English, the word was translated as “anaclitic.” The libido, Freud wrote, follows the path of narcissistic needs and attaches itself to objects which ensure satisfaction of those needs. He labelled this choice the anaclitic type, which he distinguished from the narcissistic choice, where the partner is chosen to be as similar to oneself as possible.

In modern psychoanalysis anaclitic is considered synonymous with the adjective “dependent.” Thus all of the narcissistic neuroses and preoedipal disorders, including schizophrenias, have their pathological origins during the stage of childhood when children are completely dependent for growth and nurturance on pregenital love objects, towards whom all their libido is directed. In treatment,