Lehrman defines transference as a spontaneous phenomenon, repetitively lived out as an emotional and behavioral experience, with the complete repression (i.e., forgetting) of the original experience. Transference phenomena have the same meaning for patients as posthypnotic suggestions. The transference attitudes are displaced to new and other ideas from those to which they belong. The patient rationalizes and feels somewhat uncomfortable but does not fully understand his behavior. He expresses the repressed not in memory but in action.

The main psychotherapeutic forces are the patient's transferences to the physician and his capacity for testing reality. The transference is used to mitigate the conflict and to increase the patient's ability to recognize reality.