In psychoanalytic therapy, which phenomenon involves the client transferring feelings about earlier significant people onto the therapist?

In psychoanalytic therapy, which phenomenon involves the client transferring feelings about earlier significant people onto the therapist?

• A. Free association
• B. Transference
• C. Dream analysis
• D. Resistance

Answer: (B)

Transference is when a client redirects feelings originally tied to important people from their past onto the therapist. In psychoanalytic work, the therapist often becomes a stand-in for parents or other significant figures, so emotions like love, anger, or distrust that were previously directed at those figures surface in the therapy relationship. This is valuable because it brings unconscious patterns into the here-and-now, allowing the clinician to interpret them and help the client understand how early experiences shape current feelings and behaviors. Transference can be positive or negative, shaping the therapeutic alliance and the kinds of insights that emerge. Free association involves saying whatever comes to mind to reveal unconscious material, not the redirection of feelings onto the therapist. Dream analysis focuses on interpreting dreams to uncover unconscious wishes and conflicts. Resistance refers to defenses that block access to painful material, not the transfer of feelings onto the therapist.

Transference is when a client redirects feelings originally tied to important people from their past onto the therapist. In psychoanalytic work, the therapist often becomes a stand-in for parents or other significant figures, so emotions like love, anger, or distrust that were previously directed at those figures surface in the therapy relationship. This is valuable because it brings unconscious patterns into the here-and-now, allowing the clinician to interpret them and help the client understand how early experiences shape current feelings and behaviors. Transference can be positive or negative, shaping the therapeutic alliance and the kinds of insights that emerge.

Free association involves saying whatever comes to mind to reveal unconscious material, not the redirection of feelings onto the therapist. Dream analysis focuses on interpreting dreams to uncover unconscious wishes and conflicts. Resistance refers to defenses that block access to painful material, not the transfer of feelings onto the therapist.