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Rangell discusses an aspect of training about which there is some general awareness, but which has never been clearly enunciated: a possible destructive result of incomplete resolution of the negative or positive transference to the training analyst,
caused by the unanalyzed oedipal conflict. When resolution of a persistent strong negative transference is incomplete, the graduate may displace negative feelings to the analyst's theoretical orientation, from which a number of destructive outcomes may eventuate—for example, repudiation of the analyst's and the institute's theoretical position. In some cases, this may lead to the formation of a deviant group. When the positive transference is unresolved, the graduate may displace the idealization of the analyst to the theory and blindly accept everything the analyst espouses without any ability to maintain an independent position. This phenomenon, if not properly understood in the training program, can lead to many difficulties and can jeopardize the future development of psychoanalysis. Rangell also discusses such deviant groups as the Kleinian, Kohutian, Bionian, and Faberian, and in a scholarly way shows how, in many of these groups, the existence of the oedipal conflict is completely denied; instead, it is acted out in the group formation which promulgates the deviant group. He further contributes to our understanding of group dynamics by elaborating on ways in which the denial of the oedipal conflict is accompanied by a denial of the unconscious; this is considered by many to be the main fallacy of the Kohutian group, in which there is blind adherence to self psychology. Rangell reminds us, however, that not all changes are destructive. He is emphasizing only one aspect of change resulting from incomplete training that can lead to disaster. The training may contain the seeds of the phenomenon to which he refers, but it can also be an extremely creative process which results in the individual's increased