transference

     

Transference is a phenomenon in psychology characterize by unconscious redirection of feelings for one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object." Still another definition is "a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, esp. of childhood, and the substitution of another person . . . for the original object of the repressed impulses." Transference was first described by Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for better understanding of the patient's feelings.

Trivia about transference

  • It's the shift of attitudes toward one's parents onto one's analyst
  • (Jon of the Clue Crew appears in the Freud Museum, Vienna, Austria.) In his case history of 18-year-old Dora, who came here around 1900, Freud admits he failed to deal with this process, the patient's attachment to him
  • I love Dr. Freud for using this term for strong feelings of attachment by a patient toward an analyst