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==Sigmund Freud==
[[Freud]] coined the term "[[countertransference]]" to designate the [[analyst]]'s "[[countertransference|unconscious feelings]]" towards the [[patient]].
==After Freud==In the 1950s[[particular]], Lacan presents countertransference as a RESISTANCE, an obstacle which hinders [[analyst]]s soon [[divided]] over the progress of psychoanalytic treatment. Like all resistances [[role]] allotted to treatment, countertransference is ultimately a resistance of the analyst. Thus Lacan defines [[countertransference as 'the sum of the prejudices, passions, perplexities, and even the insufficient information of the analyst at a certain moment of the dialectical process' ]] in discussions of the treatment (Ec, 225)[[technique]].
==Case Studies==[[Lacan]] refers to two of [[Freud]]'s [[case]] studies to illustrate what he means. ===Young Homosexual Woman===In 1957 [[Lacan]] presents a similar [[analysis]] of Freud's treatment of the young [[homosexual]] woman <ref>{{F}} (1920a [1918]) "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Psychogenesis of a Case of Female Homosexuality]]," [[SE]] XVIII, 147.</ref>. He argues that when [[Freud]] [[interpreted]] the [[woman]]'s [[dream]] as expressing a [[wish]] to deceive him, he was focusing on the [[imaginary]] [[dimension]] of the [[woman]]'s [[transference]] rather than on the [[symbolic]] dimension.<ref>{{S4}} p. 135</ref>. That is, [[Freud]] interpreted the [[dream]] as something directed at him personally, rather than as something directed at the [[Other]]. [[Lacan]] argues that [[Freud]] did this because he found the [[woman]] attractive and because he [[identification|identified]] with the [[woman]]'s [[father]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 106-9</ref>. Once again, [[Freud]]'s [[countertransference]] brought the [[treatment]] to a premature end, though this time it was [[Freud]] who decided to terminate it. ==Training==The preceding examples might seem to [[suggest]] that [[Lacan]] aligns himself with those [[analyst]]s who argue that the [[training]] [[analysis]] should give the [[analyst]] the capacity to transcend all [[affect|affective reactions]] to the [[patient]]. However, [[Lacan]] absolutely rejects this point of view, which he dismisses as a "stoical [[ideal]]".<ref>{{S8}} p.219</ref>. The [[training]] [[analysis]] does not put the [[analyst]] beyond [[passion]], and to believe that it does would be to believe that all the [[passion]]s stem from the [[unconscious]], an [[idea]] which [[Lacan]] rejects. ==Desire of the Analyst==If anything, the better analysed the [[analyst]] is, the more likely he is to be frankly in [[love]] with, or be quite repulsed by, the [[analysand]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 220</ref>. If, then, the [[analyst]] does not [[act]] on the basis of these [[feeling]]s, it is not because his [[training]] [[analysis]] has drained away his [[passion]]s, but because it has given him a [[desire]] which is even stronger than those [[passion]]s, a [[desire]] which [[Lacan]] calls the [[desire of the analyst]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 220-1</ref> ==Affect==Hence [[Lacan]] does not entirely reject Paula Heimann's [[position]]. He accepts that [[analyst]]s have [[feeling]]s towards their [[patient]]s, and that sometimes the [[analyst]] can direct the [[treatment]] better by reflecting on these [[feeling]]s. For example, if [[Freud]] had reflected a bit more on his feelings towards the young homosexual [[woman]], he might have avoided [[interpreting]] her [[dream]] as a [[message]] addressed directly to him.<ref>{{S4}} p. 108</ref>. <blockquote>"No one has ever said that the [[analyst]] should never have feelings towards his [[patient]]. But he must [[know]] not only not to give into [[them]], to keep them in their [[place]], but also how to make adequate use of them in his technique."<ref>{{S1}} p.32</ref></blockquote> If [[countertransference ]] is condemned by [[Lacan]], then, it is because he defines it not in [[terms ]] of affects [[affect]]s felt by the [[analyst]], but as the [[analyst]]'s failure to use those affects [[affect]]s appropriately. ==Late Lacan==In the 1960s [[Lacan ]] becomes very critical of the term [[countertransference]]. He argues that it connotes a symmetrical [[relationship ]] between the [[analyst ]] and the [[analysand]], whereas the [[transference ]] is anything but a symmetrical relationship. When [[speaking ]] of the [[analyst]]'s position it is both misleading and unnecessary to use the term [[countertransference]]; it is sufficient to [[speak ]] of the different ways in which the [[analyst ]] and [[analysand ]] are implicated in the [[transference (]].<ref>{{S8, }} p. 233)</ref>. ' <blockquote>"The [[transference ]] is a phenomenon in which [[subject ]] and [[psycho]]-analyst are both included. To [[divide ]] it in terms of [[transference ]] and [[counter-transference ]] . . . is never more than a way of avoiding the [[essence ]] of the matter' (Sll, ."<ref>{{S11}} p. 231).</ref></blockquote> ==See Also=={{See}}* [[Affect]]* [[Analyst]]||* [[Desire]]* [[Interpretation]]||* [[Training]]* [[Transference]]||* [[Treatment]]* [[Unconscious]]{{Also}} ==References==<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small"><references/></div> [[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]][[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Practice]][[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Language]][[Category:Symbolic]][[Category:Concepts]][[Category:Terms]][[Category:OK]]__NOTOC__