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The term "[[transference]]" first emerged in [[Freud]]'s work as simply another term for the
==Transference and Freud==
The term [[transference]] first emerged in [[Freud]]'s work as simply another term for the [[displacement]] of [[affect]] from one idea to another.<ref>Freud, {{F}} 1900a: SE V, 562</ref>
Later on, however, it came to refer to the patient's relationship to the analyst as it develops in the treatment.
This soon became the central meaning of the term, and is the sense in which it is usually understood in psychoanalytic theory today.
The use of a special term to denote the patient's relationship to the analyst is justified by the peculiar character of this relationship.
Freud was first struck by the intensity of the patient's affective reactions to the doctor in [[Breuer]]'s [[treatment]] of [[Anna O]] in 1882, which he argued was due to the [[patient]] transferring [[unconscious]] ideas onto the doctor.<ref>Freud, {{F}} 1895d</ref>As he developed the psychoanalytic method, Freud first regarded the transference exclusively as a [[resistance]] which impedes the recall of [[repression|repressed]] [[memories]], an obstacle to the treatment which must be 'destroyed'.<ref>Freud, {{F}} 1905e: SE VII, 116</ref>
Gradually, however, he modified this view, coming to see the transference also as a positive factor which helps the treatment to progress.
Lacan's thinking about [[transference]] goes through several stages.
His first work to deal with the subject in any detail is '''An Intervention on the Transference'','<ref>Lacan, 1951</ref> in which he describes the transference in [[dialectic]]al terms borrowed from [[Hegel]].
He criticises [[ego-psychology]] for defining the transference in terms of [[affect]]s; "Transference does not refer to any mysterious property of affect, and even when it reveals itself under the appearance of emotion, it only acquires meaning by virtue of the dialectical moment in which it is produced."<ref>{{Ec, }} 225</ref>
In other words, Lacan argues that although transference often manifests itself in the guise of particularly strong affects, such as [[love]] and [[hate]], it does not consist of such emotions but in the [[structure]] of an intersubjective relationship.
Transference is implicit in the [[speech act]], which involves an exchange of [[sign]]s that transforms the speaker and listener: In its essence, the efficacious transference which we're considering is quite simply the speech act.
Each time a man speaks to another in an authentic and full manner, there is, in the true sense, transference, symbolic transference - something which takes place which changes the nature of the two beings present.<ref>Sl, {{S1}} 109</ref>
In the seminar of the following year, he continues to elaborate on the symbolic nature of transference, which he identifies with the [[compulsion to repeat]], the [[insistence]] of the symbolic determinants of the [[subject]].<ref>{{S2, }} 210-11</ref>
This is to be distinguished from the imaginary aspect of transference, namely, the affective reactions of [[love]] and [[aggressivity]].
In this distinction between the symbolic and imaginary aspects of transference, Lacan provides a useful way of understanding the paradoxical function of the transference in psychoanalytic [[treatment]]; in its symbolic aspect ([[repetition]]) it helps the treatment progress by revealing the [[signifiers]] of the subject's [[history]], while in its imaginary aspect (love and hate) it acts as a [[resistance]].<ref>see {{S4, }} 135; {{S8, }} 204</ref>
Lacan's next approach to the subject of transference is in the eighth year of his seminar,<ref>Lacan, 1960-1</ref> entitled simply 'The Transference'.
In 1964, Lacan articulates the concept of transference with his concept of the [[subject supposed to know]], which remains central to Lacan's view of the transference from then on; indeed, it is this view of the transference which has come to be seen as Lacan's most complete attempt to theorise the matter.
According to this view, transference is the attribution of knowledge to the Other, the supposition that the Other is a subject who knows; 'As soon as the subject who is supposed to know exists somewhere . . . there is transference."<ref>Sll, {{S11}} 232</ref>
Although the existence of the transference is a necessary condition of psychoanalytic treatment, it is not sufficient in itself; it is also necessary that the analyst deal with the transference in a unique way. It is this that differentiates psychoanalysis from [[suggestion]]; although both are based on the transference, psychoanalysis differs from suggestion because the analyst refuses to use the power given to him by the transference.<ref>see {{E, }} 236</ref>
From quite early on in the history of psychoanalysis it became common to distinguish between those aspects of the patient's relationship to the analyst which were 'adapted to reality' and those which were not. In the latter category fell all the patient's reactions which were caused by 'perceiving the analyst in a distorted way'. Some analysts used the term 'transference' to refer to all aspects of the analysand's relationship to the analyst, in which case they distinguished the distorted 'neurotic transference' or 'transference neurosis' from the 'unobjectionable part of the transference' or 'therapeutic alliance."<ref>Edward Bibring, Elizabeth Zeztel</ref>
Thus 'the inability [of the analyst] to sustain a praxis in an authentic manner results, as is usually the case with mankind, in the exercise of power."<ref>E, 226</ref>
2.The idea that the analysand's 'distorted perception of the analyst' could be liquidated by means of interpretations is a logical fallacy, since the transference is interpreted on the basis of, and with the instrument of, the transference itself.<ref>{{S8, }} 206</ref> In other words, there is no [[metalanguage]] of the transference, no vantage point outside the transference from which the analyst could offer an interpretation, since any interpretation he offers "will be received as coming from the person that the transference imputes him to be."<ref>{{E, }} 231</ref>
Thus it is contradictory to claim that the transference can be dissolved by means of an interpretation when it is the transference itself which conditions the analysand's acceptance of that interpretation; "the emergence of the subject from the transference is thus postponed ad infinitum."<ref>{{E, }} 231</ref>
Does this mean that Lacanian analysts never interpret the transference? Certainly not; Lacan affirms that "it is natural to interpret the transference,"<ref>{{E, }} 271</ref> but at the same time he harbours no illusions about the power of such interpretations to dissolve the transference. Like any other interpretation, the analyst must use all his art in deciding if and when to interpret the transference, and above all must avoid gearing his interpretations exclusively to interpreting the transference. He must also know exactly what he is seeking to achieve by such an interpretation; not to rectify the patient's relationship to reality, but to maintain the analytic dialogue. "What does it mean, to interpret the transference? Nothing else than to fill the void of this deadlock with a lure. But while it may be deceptive, this lure serves a purpose by setting off the whole process again."<ref>{{Ec, }} 225</ref>
When describing the transference as 'positive' or 'negative', Lacan takes two different approaches. Following Freud, Lacan sometimes uses these adjectives to refer to the nature of the affects, 'positive transference' referring to loving affects and 'negative transference' referring to aggressive affects.<ref>{{Ec, }} 222</ref>
Sometimes, however, Lacan takes the terms 'positive' and 'negative' to refer to the favourable or unfavourable effects of the transference on the treatment<ref>see E, 271</ref> (where Lacan argues that when the analysand's resistance opposes suggestion, this resistance must be 'placed in the ranks of the positive transference' on the grounds that it maintains the direction of the analysis).
Although Lacan does speak occasionally of [[countertransference]], he generally prefers not to use this term.
