There has been a gradual evolution of the important construct of transference from ancient to modern times. Long before Franz Anton Mesmer, there were philosophers, theorists, and health professionals who emphasized the impact of interpersonal relationships on well-being and illness. While basically conceptualizing animal magnetism as a dynamic physical fluid, Mesmer was also aware of the impac...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of transference interpretations (the assumed core active ingredient) in dynamic psychotherapy, using an experimental design. METHOD One hundred patients were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received dynamic psychotherapy over 1 year, with a moderate level of transference interpretations, while the other group received d...

In this clinical paper, the author presents a coherent model for conceptualising the process of establishing a 'containing object' in the mind of the analysand throughout the course of analysis. The technical implications offered in this model derive mainly from concepts and notions put forward in three papers by Wilfred Bion and explicated by the present author: 'A theory of thinking' (1962/19...

Somatic psychology, the interplay of the body, the mind, the emotions, and the social context, significantly contributes to the theory and practice of group therapy. The processing of sensory experiences in the here-and-now of the therapy group helps group members to develop self-awareness, the ability to understand their relationships with others, and the capacity for empathy. When group membe...

Social cognition involves automatic and stimulus-driven processes; these may be important in mediating stereotypes in the community and schemas and transference in the clinic setting. Significant differences in self-related processing and other-related processing may also lead to important biases in our view of the other. The psychobiology of social cognition is gradually being delineated, and ...

A B S T R AC T We start with the premise that organizations are processes of human behavior that are experienced as experiential and perceptual systems governed by unconscious processes. This starting point leads us to discuss psychoanalytically informed organizational perspectives as a means of understanding how psychological reality shapes organizational dynamics. In particular, we argue that...