Abstract
Transferences from patients’ everyday lives, or extra-therapeutic transferences, provide rich material in psychoanalytic psychotherapy practice, but the literature has mainly ignored this topic, reserving the term transference for the therapy relationship. While references to the therapy relationship may also be present or emerge from this material, at times explicit interpretations of extra therapeutic transferences are appropriate, without reference to the therapy relationship. Through an extensive literature review and case illustrations from the author’s practice, this paper suggests that the concept of extra-therapeutic transference should be revisited and integrated with a broader understanding of transference, to bring theory more in line with actual practice.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adatto, C. (1989). The enigma of the transference. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 70, 513–525.
Blum, H. (1983). The position and value of extratransference interpretation. Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association, 31, 587–618.
Etchegoyen, R. H. (1983). Fifty years after the mutative interpretation. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 64, 445–459.
Fine, R. (1989). The extra-analytic transference and the analytic triad. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 5(4), 485–504.
Fisch, J. (1994). The self in psychotherapy. The Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 31(2), 71–77.
Fosshage, J. (1994). Toward reconceptualising transference: Theoretical and clinical considerations. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 75, 265–280.
Fosshage, J. (2005). The analyst’s participation in co-creating the analytic relationship: Implicit and explicit dimensions of analytic change. Paper presented at the The International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology’s 28th Annual International Conference on The Psychology of the Self: Developing Clinical Momentum, Baltimore, MD.
Gill, M. (1979). The analysis of the transference. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 27, 263–289.
Gill, M. (1982). Centrality of the analysis of transference. In M. Gill & I. Hoffman (Eds.), Analysis of transference, volume 1: Theory and technique (pp. 43–57). New York: International Universities Press.
Gill, M. (1983). The interpersonal paradigm and the degree of the therapist’s involvement. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 19(2), 200–237.
Gill, M. (1984). Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy: A revision. International Review of Psychoanalysis, 11, 161–179.
Glover, E. (1955). The technique of psycho-analysis. New York: International Universities Press.
Haas, L. (1966). Transference outside the psycho-analytic situation. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 47, 422–426.
Haesler, L. (1991). Relationship between extratransference interpretations and transference interpretations: A clinical study. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 72, 463–477.
Halpert, E. R. (1984). Panel discussion on the value of extratransference interpretation. Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association, 32, 137–146.
Hamilton, V. (1993). Truth and reality in psychoanalytic discourse. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 74, 63–79.
Heimann, P. (1956). Dynamics of transference interpretations. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37(4), 303–310.
Kivowitz, A. (1990). Triangular empathy: “The other” in psychotherapy with individuals. Clinical Social Work Journal, 18(1), 73–83.
Kohut, H. (1979). The two analyses of Mr. Z. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 60, 3–18.
Leites, N. (1977). Transference interpretations only? International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 58, 275–287.
Ornstein, A. (1990). Selfobject transferences and the process of working through. Progress in Self Psychology, 6, 41–58.
Sandler, J. (1983). Reflections on some relations between psychoanalytic concepts and psychoanalytic practice. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 4, 35–45.
Shaddock, D. (2000). Contexts and connections: An intersubjective systems approach to couples therapy. New York: Basic Books.
Stewart, H. (1990). Interpretation and other agents for psychic change. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 17, 61–69.
Strachey, J. (1934). The nature of the therapeutic action of psycho-analysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 15, 126–159.
Tosone, C. (1993). Impact on the level of patient functioning on the content and frequency of therapist interpretation. (Doctoral Dissertation). New York University. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54 (04), 1545A. (UMI No. AAT9317696).
van Nouhuys, W. (2005). The use of transferences from everyday life in psychoanalytic psychotherapy: Exploring the concept of the extra-therapeutic transference (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Sanville Institute, Berkeley, CA. Available at http://www.wandd.com/wvn.html.
Wallerstein, R. (1986). Forty-two lives in treatment. New York: The Guilford Press.
Wallerstein, R. (1995). The talking cures: The psychoanalyses and the psychotherapies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Nouhuys, W.D. Legitimizing Work with Extra-Therapeutic Transferences: A Self Psychological Perspective. Clin Soc Work J 40, 348–355 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-011-0362-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-011-0362-1