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This paper will limit itself to heterosexual feelings, though the principles apply in the same general form to homosexual feelings. The case material is based primarily on the reactions of female patients to a male therapist; reactions of male patients to a female therapist run along parallel lines. Problems of counter-transference will for the most part be omitted.
The origins of erotic feelings are twofold: first, the physical attraction to the therapist and, second, the various dynamic mechanisms that lead the patient to distort his natural physical attraction one way or the other. It could be said that the goal of therapy is to get the patient to recognize whatever innate appeal the therapist has for her, whether much or little, and to handle it in accordance with the demands of reality.
The discussion will be divide into three parts: the dimensions, the dynamics and the management of the transference.
Three aspects of the erotic transference are particularly important: intensity, variability and accessibility to consciousness.