W. R. Bion (1952) has pointed out a connection between alterations in the development of the "apparatus for thinking thoughts" and psychosomatic symptoms. Many authors have used this insight, from their own points of view, as a basis for describing this deficiency in thought and in the capacity to formulate images related to the development of psychosomatic symptoms (Krystal & McDougall 1979; S...

Commitment to outpatient psychiatric treatment evolved in the courts to protect patients' right to freedom from compulsory hospitalization. This ruling has been criticized by the psychiatric profession, who prioritize treatment rather than liberty. The following case demonstrates the use of commitment as a therapeutic tool in the psychotherapy of a woman with severe borderline pathology. Althou...

This paper explores the symbolic meaning of dreams in which children appear with special attention to the way children in dreams symbolize the self, particularly the dependent and developing self. It is suggested that patients' growth in analysis can be monitored by observing what happens to the children in their dreams. This paper also explores the vicissitudes of the child transference, in wh...

The analyst's reverie experience constitutes an indispensable avenue to the understanding and interpretation of the transference-countertransference and yet is perhaps the dimension of the analyst's experience that feels least worthy of scrutiny. Reverie takes the most mundane, personal, and private of shapes, often involving the minutiae of everyday life. Although the analyst's reveries are pe...

Brian Bird, M.D. AS AN INTRODUCTION I WOULD LIKE to make a few general remarks about transference as I see it. Transference, in my view, is a very special mental quality that has never been satisfactorily explained. I am not satisfied, for instance, either with what has been written about it or with its use in analysis. To me, our knowledge seems slight, and our use limited. This view, admitted...

Informants who describe others' behaviors are perceived as having more of the trait implied by the behavior they describe (the trait transference effect). Associative and attributional explanations for this phenomenon are reviewed and examined in 3 experiments. Findings were inconsistent with attributional interpretations: (a) transference effects persisted with extended coding times, online ju...

This study explored consultants’ experiences of transference and counter-transference when conducting group relations training from the systems psychodynamic stance. A phenomenological research design was used with semistructured interviews conducted on a purposive sample of 13 organisational development consultants in a financial institution. The data was analysed by means of content analysis....

A protracted debate has persisted throughout the history of psychoanalysis concerning transference phenomena and how they resemble or diverge from ordinary relationships outside the analytic situation. Indeed, it is uncertain as to whether the entirety of the analytic relationship is determined by the transference or if “extra-transferential” aspects of the analytic relationship can be said to ...