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Although there is a paucity of literature on the subject of transference in general, it is noteworthy that there is proportionately still less material devoted to the study of the positive transference, this notwithstanding Freud's (11) masterful observations on transference-love and his emphasis of its importance in the analytic process, a point also stressed by Ferenczi (6) and Nunberg (22).
In fact, some authors either minimize the phenomenon or doubt its validity or do not accept it at all. Fenichel (5) speaks of the “so called positive transference” and thinks that: “One must doubt whether a division of transference into ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ is accurate. The transference forms occurring in neurotics are distinguished by their ambivalence.” Wilhelm Reich (24) doubts the genuineness of positive transference particularly at the beginning of analysis but also views it with a jaundiced eye at all times. Silverberg (25), would strike the term entirely from the psychoanalytic vocabulary and would not even limit the concept of transference solely to the patient-analyst relationship.
The only effort to arrive at a dynamic explanation has been the paper by Jekels and Bergler (20), originally published in 1934, in which they essay a comparison of transference and love and attempt to delineate the metapsychology of both states. Although there have been more current attempts to shed light on the understanding of the transference, notably by Nunberg (23) and Mac-Alpine (21), they do not deal with the positive transference per se, either in theory or in practice.
Recently, however, Richard Sterba (26) found it pertinent to call attention to Freud's comments on the reality and genuineness of the transference-love. Sterba is of the opinion that the tendency to underestimate it has been largely due to the influence of Wilhelm Reich. “Reich's technique of dealing with the transference seemingly is an outgrowth of his own suspicious character and the belligerent attitude that st