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The author's main thesis is that the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis is similar to the interdependent interaction of mother and child in normal development. Psychoanalysis resumes where growth was interrupted in the fixation that led to the neurosis. Since ego development continues throughout life, periods of consolidation follow periods of relative ego disorganization, characterized by regression. An analysis can be seen as a controlled transference neurosis which artificially creates such a condition.
The positive transference is seen as more than a revival of a childhood relationship. The therapist's scrutiny, objectivity, evaluation of reality, and work of interpretation serve as a basis for a new ego integration in which these attitudes are incorporated by the patient. The work of interpretation breaks down defenses, thus leading to the renewal of energy transfer from the repressed unconscious. The preconscious needs contact with the unconscious to give current experiences their full meaning and emotional depth. The author sees the id as a structure with potentialities for adaptation just as great as that of the ego but on a different level of organization.
This is an excellent paper which contributes further and much needed insight into the relationship between transference and the therapeutic process.