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Have you ever felt unexpected emotions toward someone because they remind you of someone else? This might be transference in action, a psychological phenomenon in which an individual projects their feelings, thoughts, attitudes or behaviours from previous relationships onto another. It can happen in various situations but is particularly significant in therapeutic settings.
Transference is a sensitive and complex issue. It can be challenging to navigate, especially in a therapeutic environment. If not managed effectively, it can negatively impact the client and counsellor. However, it can also be a useful tool in counselling. Recognising and addressing transference can help clients uncover and understand their emotional responses and unresolved feelings from their past, which is crucial for providing valuable insights for therapeutic work.
Transference is a key concept in psychoanalysis and is essential for understanding how past experiences influence present behaviours and relationships. Understanding transference is important, especially in counselling, which is what this blog post aims to achieve. Here, we will explore its significance, how it is addressed in the therapeutic process and some examples. We will also cover countertransference and how counsellors can manage this reaction.
Definition of Transference
Transference is an important concept in therapy/counselling. It involves a client projecting feelings towards their therapist/counsellor, rooted in their past experiences with others, such as parents, siblings, teachers, mentors, friends or previous partners. It:
- Can encompass positive or negative emotions.
- Is often an unconscious process, so clients are unaware they are transferring these emotions to their counsellor.
- Can help clients explore and make sense of their emotional experiences, fostering personal growth and healing.
Transference
“The process by which a patient displaces on to his analyst feelings and ideas, which derive from previous figures in his life; by which he relates to his analyst as though he were some former object in his life.” (Rycroft C. A critical dictionary of psychoanalysis. London: Penguin Books; 1995.).
The process of transference, although more common in the therapeutic environment, is not limited to counselling/therapy and can also occur in everyday life (Andersen & Miranda, 2000), for example:
- Workplace – an individual may feel particularly positive or negative towards a colleague because they remind them of a previous boss or colleague.
- Friendships – often, the dynamics in friendships mirror those of past relationships, leading to similar feelings of trust, admiration or even conflict.
- Romantic relationships – people may often project feelings from past romantic partners onto new ones, which can influence how they perceive and interact with their new partner.
- Customer interactions – a customer speaks to a worker in a tone that reminds them of a critical parent, causing them to feel defensive or upset, even if the customer’s intent was not negative.
Transference can also occur when an individual has just met a person or in brief encounters with strangers.
Transference is deeply rooted in psychoanalytic theory and was first conceptualised by Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis (Levy & Scala, 2020). Freud first noticed transference while treating his patients, noting that they often projected feelings onto him that were actually rooted in their past relationships, particularly with their parents.
One notable case study was Dora, and Freud published this case in his work, “Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria” (1905). During therapy, Dora developed strong feelings towards Freud, which Freud interpreted as transference. Dora abruptly ended her therapy, and Freud saw this as a failure on his part, partly due to his inability to fully understand and manage the transference dynamics (Biran, 2024).
Later, Freud integrated transference into his broader theory of psychoanalysis, viewing it as a crucial mechanism through which unconscious material is brought into the therapeutic setting. He believed that analysing and working through transference could help patients resolve deep-seated conflicts and gain insight into their unconscious mind. In Freud’s view, transference was not just a therapeutic tool but a fundamental aspect of human psychology. He argued that transference occurs in many relationships, not just in therapy, and it plays a crucial role in shaping our emotional lives and interpersonal dynamics.
After Freud, other psychoanalysts further explored and expanded the concept of transference. Carl Jung, for example, introduced the idea of countertransference, where a counsellor/therapist projects their own unresolved issues onto the patient. This concept has become a crucial aspect of modern psychoanalytic practice, emphasising the bidirectional nature of the therapeutic relationship.
Cobb imagines three perspectives on transference and countertransference in an article for the British Psychological Society (BPS) here.
Types of Transference
Transference can manifest in various ways, and there are different types, such as positive, negative and sexualised (Ladson & Welton, 2007).
Positive transference
Clients can experience positive transference and develop affectionate or idealised feelings toward their counsellor and may see them as better than themselves (Hoffman Institute). For example, a client might view their counsellor as a parental figure or feel particularly connected to them, as they remind them of a beloved teacher from their past.
While positive feelings can promote a strong therapeutic alliance and make it easier for the client to open up and engage in the therapeutic process, it is important to consider that positive transference can still send clients into negative patterns, i.e. if they develop an unrealistic idealisation of their counsellor.
Negative transference
Transference can also be negative, in which a client redirects their anger, mistrust or frustration onto the counsellor. For example:
- A client with unresolved issues with authority figures may project these feelings onto their counsellor, resulting in suspicion or defensiveness. They might react to the counsellor as though they are a critical authority figure.
- A client experiencing a lot of conflict in past relationships might unconsciously direct anger or frustration towards their counsellor, mirroring those past interactions.
Sexualised (erotic) transference
When transference becomes sexualised, a client projects romantic or sexual feelings onto their counsellor, which can be linked to past experiences of desire or affection. For example, a client may project their fantasies onto their counsellor, viewing them as an object of their sexual desires.
Addressing sexual transference can be a complex and sensitive issue and potentially damaging to the therapeutic relationship if left unmanaged. Therefore, it requires careful handling to ensure it does not undermine counselling efforts, and professional boundaries must be maintained when addressing the underlying issues (Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis).
Kakar (2019) has an example of a case study of sexual transference in a report here.
Understanding these transference types is crucial for both counsellors and clients to navigate the therapeutic process effectively and foster a productive and healing relationship.
Why Does Transference Happen?
Transference occurs because our brains tend to recreate familiar patterns of thinking and feeling based on past experiences and try to make sense of new situations by applying what we learned from previous significant relationships. It can happen for many reasons, including:
- Unresolved conflicts – unresolved emotions and patterns from past experiences or relationships, particularly from childhood, can influence how we perceive and interact with new people, often without conscious awareness. When a new person or situation triggers these old feelings, transference occurs as the mind redirects these emotions toward the new target.
- Projecting emotions – in counselling, the counsellor often acts as a neutral figure or a blank slate, providing a neutral, safe and supportive environment. Clients can then project their feelings, thoughts and experiences onto the counsellor. This projection helps reveal deep-seated emotions and patterns, providing a unique opportunity for exploration, insight and healing.
- Revisiting and processing old wounds – the unconscious mind often revisits past traumas and unresolved conflicts through transference. By bringing these unconscious processes to light in counselling, clients can work through their old wounds, understand their emotions and develop healthier patterns.
- Pattern recognition – the human brain is wired to recognise patterns and similarities. If someone in the present resembles an important figure from an individual’s past (like a parent or a significant other), their brain might automatically apply the same feelings and expectations to this new person.
- Repetition compulsion – Freud introduced the idea of repetition compulsion, where individuals unconsciously repeat patterns from their past in an attempt to master unresolved conflicts. Transference is one way this compulsion manifests.
- Need for attachment – humans are inherently social beings with a need for attachment. Transference can reflect attempts to recreate or repair past attachments in new relationships.
Recognising transference and understanding why it happens can help clients gain valuable insights into their emotional lives, understand the roots of their feelings and develop healthier relationships. By recognising and working through transference in counselling and everyday life, individuals can achieve greater self-awareness and emotional well-being.
The Role of Transference in Counselling
Transference plays a vital role in counselling, as it bridges the gap between past experiences and present behaviours and can provide insights into the client’s inner world. By exploring these projections and helping clients understand and address transference, counsellors can help them gain deeper self-awareness of unresolved conflicts, past relationships and significant life events that continue to influence their current behaviour and emotional state.
Counsellors have an essential role in recognising, managing and interpreting transference:
- Recognising transference – counsellors should be trained to recognise the signs of transference. They must be observant and sensitive to signs, such as unusual emotional responses or recurring themes in the client’s interactions, e.g. where their feelings are more reflective of past relationships than the current therapeutic interaction.
- Managing transference – is crucial in maintaining a professional and therapeutic stance and a safe and constructive environment. Counsellors must set and maintain boundaries and not react personally to their client’s projections, i.e. be mindful of countertransference.
- Interpreting transference – is an important part of managing transference, as it requires the counsellor to help the client understand the origins and significance of their transference and make connections between their current feelings in counselling and past experiences (Therapistly). This interpretation can lead to greater self-awareness and healing as clients explore and resolve old wounds.
Transference is closely linked to the therapeutic alliance, the collaborative and trusting relationship between counsellor and client. When counsellors effectively manage transference, it can strengthen this alliance and help clients feel understood and supported. However, counsellors must also maintain professional boundaries to avoid dependency or inappropriate relationships. They can do this by:
- Establishing clear boundaries and expectations from the start to prevent misunderstandings. We have a separate article on strategies for establishing boundaries in counselling relationships here.
- Being consistent in behaviour and responses to provide a stable and predictable therapeutic environment.
- Regularly reflecting on their own feelings and responses to prevent countertransference from interfering with their counselling.
It is all about balance and ensuring that the therapeutic relationship remains healthy and focused on the client’s growth.
Countertransference: The Counsellor’s Reaction
Countertransference describes the counsellor’s emotional reaction to the client in terms of both feelings and behaviour (Cobb, 2015). It is where they unconsciously transfer their own emotions or feelings (positive or negative) onto the client, which are often rooted in their own past experiences and relationships, unconscious feelings and unresolved issues.
Countertransference can manifest in various ways, such as a counsellor feeling overly sympathetic, frustrated or having strong reactions disproportionate to the client’s current situation.
Recognising and managing countertransference is crucial for maintaining professional boundaries, ensuring effective counselling and avoiding harm to the therapeutic relationship. Counsellors can manage countertransference by:
Being self-aware
- They should recognise and understand their emotional responses to clients and where these feelings are coming from to prevent personal issues from interfering with the therapeutic process.
- They should maintain professional boundaries and ensure their feelings do not affect the client’s treatment.
- They should be aware of their own biases and emotional responses to provide more objective and effective support to their clients.
- They should engage in continuous professional development to enhance their ability to identify and manage countertransference effectively.
Seeking supervision
- It provides an outside perspective on their emotional responses and behaviours, helping them identify and address countertransference.
- It helps them reflect on their experiences and gain insights into their own emotional reactions.
- It allows them to continually develop their skills, receive feedback and reflect on their practice.
- It ensures they adhere to ethical guidelines and maintain the highest standards of care for their clients.
They may also benefit from personal counselling themselves to explore and resolve personal issues that could impact their work with clients.
Like transference, countertransference can be challenging. However, if managed well, it can be a valuable tool within the therapeutic environment and provide useful insights. Here are some examples of how:
- Enhances empathy – helps counsellors understand their client’s experiences and what they might be feeling, e.g. a counsellor feeling frustration or sadness may reflect the client’s own struggles and emotions, thus helping the counsellor understand and empathise better.
- Reveals patterns – the counsellor’s reactions can highlight recurrent themes in the client’s behaviour and relationships, which can lead to deeper insights into the client’s patterns and how they might be repeating past dynamics.
- Strengthening therapeutic relationships – acknowledging and working through countertransference can enhance the therapeutic relationship. It demonstrates the counsellor’s commitment to being present and responsive, fostering a stronger, more trusting bond with the client.
- Professional development – reflecting on countertransference and addressing their own emotional reactions can lead to significant personal and professional growth for counsellors. It encourages self-awareness and continuous improvement in therapeutic skills, which can lead to increased effectiveness in their practice.
By being mindful of countertransference, counsellors can use their emotional responses to better understand and support their clients, turning potential challenges into opportunities for deeper insight and healing. It also ensures that they do not negatively impact their client’s counselling.
Some further information on countertransference can be found on:
- Darcy (2023) Countertransference – When Your Therapist Loses Objectivity.
- Individual Psychotherapy – Clarifying And Re-Mystifying Transference, Counter-Transference And Co-Transference. A Guide To Avoiding Procrustean Psychotherapy.
- Tishby (2021) Countertransference – Introduction to a special section.
Examples of Transference in Counselling
Here are some examples of transference in counselling:
Example 1: Treating the counsellor as a parental figure
A client who has lost a parent might unconsciously start to see the counsellor as a substitute parental figure. It can manifest in the client seeking approval, validation or comfort in ways they would from their lost parent. The client may also experience feelings of attachment, dependency or even disappointment if the counsellor does not meet their expectations. However, it can provide valuable insights into the client’s unresolved grief and their need for parental support.
Example 2: Projecting mistrust
A client who has experienced betrayal in a past relationship might project this mistrust onto the counsellor. They may be suspicious of the counsellor’s intentions, doubt their sincerity or challenge their advice. It can reflect the client’s difficulty in forming trusting relationships and their lingering fears of betrayal. Recognising and addressing these feelings can help the client work through their trust issues.
Example 3: Overdependence on the counsellor
A client who has felt neglected during childhood might become overly dependent on the counsellor. They might seek constant reassurance, struggle with boundaries or have difficulty making decisions without the counsellor’s input. This behaviour can highlight the client’s unmet needs for attention and validation. By interpreting this transference, the counsellor can help the client develop healthier ways to seek and maintain relationships and build self-reliance.
How Counsellors Work With Transference
Counsellors recognise transference as a natural part of the therapeutic process when used constructively. It provides an opportunity to gain valuable insights into a client’s past relationships and current behaviours.
They can use various strategies to work with transference, such as:
Gently addressing transference with the client – counsellors can make their clients aware of transference in many ways:
- Sensitively identifying specific behavioural patterns or feelings that the client has directed towards them and discussing this with them openly.
- Carefully and empathetically acknowledging the client’s experiences without making them feel judged or uncomfortable.
Exploring the emotions and their origins – once the counsellor has identified transference, they can work with their clients to explore the underlying emotions and their origins, which can involve:
- Discussing their past relationships and experiences that may have contributed to the feelings they are projecting.
- Helping clients understand the root causes to gain insight into their current behaviours and emotional responses.
- Using transference as a tool for growth and healing – counsellors can use transference, a powerful tool for personal growth and healing, to help clients re-experience and process unresolved emotions in a safe and supportive environment. This process can lead to greater self-awareness and healthier behavioural pattern development.
A study by Prasko et al. (2022) suggested that transference can be mapped through imagery and role-playing techniques.
Counsellors must maintain clear boundaries to effectively manage transference and ensure their focus is on their client’s well-being. It prevents the therapeutic relationship from becoming blurred or harmful and creates a safe and structured environment where clients can explore their feelings without fear of overstepping, exploitation or harm. They must also uphold ethical practice by avoiding dual relationships, respecting confidentiality, being transparent about the therapeutic process and acting in their client’s best interest.
Benefits and Challenges of Addressing Transference
Addressing transference can bring many benefits to clients and counsellors. However, it is not without its challenges.
Benefits
- It can help clients understand, confront and process unresolved past emotions and experiences that influence their present behaviour. It can lead to significant emotional release, healing and improved mental well-being.
- It can help clients better understand their relationships and improve their connection with others.
- It can enhance trust and communication between the client and counsellor, leading to a stronger and more effective therapeutic alliance, which is fundamental to success.
- It can aid clients in gaining greater insight into their own emotional patterns and behaviours, promoting self-awareness and personal growth, and helping them make positive changes in their lives, e.g. fostering healthier relationships outside of counselling.
Challenges
- Professional boundaries may blur between counsellor and client and potentially result in boundary violations if not managed properly. This can harm the therapeutic relationship and may lead to ethical issues. It is crucial to maintain clear and consistent boundaries to protect the integrity of the therapeutic relationship.
- The process can be emotionally intense, as it often involves revisiting painful and deeply rooted feelings, which can be challenging for both the client and the counsellor to navigate. Managing this emotional intensity requires skill and self-awareness to ensure the therapeutic process remains productive and safe.
- It can lead to the client feeling misunderstood or judged if the counsellor does not approach transference with sensitivity and understanding, which can hinder their progress and trust in the therapeutic process. Approaching transference with sensitivity and clarity is essential to avoid confusion and ensure meaningful exploration.
Addressing transference requires a delicate balance of empathy, professionalism, and clear boundaries, leading to profound therapeutic breakthroughs and lasting emotional healing if counsellors effectively manage the process.
Conclusion
Transference is a psychological phenomenon in which a client redirects feelings, desires and attitudes from past relationships or experiences onto the counsellor. These projections are usually unconscious and often relate to significant figures in the client’s life, such as parents, siblings or past partners. It is highly relevant in counselling as it provides a window into the client’s inner world and unresolved issues.
Transference can be challenging in a therapeutic environment, as it may lead to intense emotional reactions and strain the therapeutic relationship if not handled appropriately. There is also the risk of boundary violations if the counsellor is not careful. Despite the challenges, transference is a valuable therapeutic tool. It allows clients to re-experience and resolve past conflicts in a safe environment. By working through these projections, clients can achieve deeper self-awareness and emotional growth.
The counsellor’s skill and self-awareness are crucial in navigating transference. They must recognise transference by being aware of the signs and managing it effectively and sensitively. They must maintain professional boundaries and ethical practices and interpret transference by helping clients understand the origins and significance of their projections. They must also be aware of countertransference and manage it appropriately through self-awareness and supervision.
In summary, while transference presents challenges, it also offers significant opportunities for therapeutic progress. It is a valuable insight, not just in counselling but in navigating relationships in general and in everyday life.