DISCUSSION: Dr. Nathaniel Ross felt that Dr. Blum included too much in transference in making it more than an object relations phenomenon. He commented that as the essence of transference is the infantile core, we try to resolve it as much as possible. Dr. Ross differentiated a true resistance to transference from a defect in the ego's capacity to form transferences: the former implies the ability to form transferences; the latter, a failure in ego development with a defect in the ability to symbolize.

Dr. Peter Neubauer stated that while Dr. Blum widened the structural aspects in reference to the occurrence of transference, he also wished to maintain a narrower definition. Careful exploration of which areas of the ego are involved in the regressive pull and which sustain the capacity for object and self-observation and insight, might add useful information as to the structural aspects of transference.