Transference Resistance and Interpretation

Both transference and resistance form a characteristic object of psychoanalytical thought, and are a point of departure for all further developments in technique. Their problematic interweave shows itself early in Freudian thought, which involves different, or even conflicting, formulas. It is necessary to choose two of these for a clearer demonstration of this. The first, based on various reasonings (Freud 1895; 1912; 1915), describes transference as the strongest arm of resistance. In fact it induces a deformation of pathogenic material, upsets the fundamental rule and opposes the work of memory. At this point, in the concept of transference the thoughts referred to the analyst, which are not yet clearly distinct one from the other, mix with the idea, fruitful but as yet just an outline, of false connections, through which the person of the analyst is cathected with repressed drives relative to important persons from the patient's own childhood. The most obvious consequences of this are the counter-position of repetition and remembering, the overcoming of childhood amnesia and memory failures as the aim of the treatment and the