Positive and negative transference

Through transference the unconscious becomes entangled with the psychotherapist, and it is the struggle to free ourselves from the 'bad' aspects of this entanglement while assimilating the 'good' aspects that brings about change.

As well as the specific instances of transference in the sessions the transference can be viewed as a whole, and as having two aspects - the positive and the negative. The positive transference is made up of our good feelings about the therapist, and the negative of bad feelings. These sets of feelings can be seen as a replay of the ambivalent feelings all infants have about their parents, who on the one hand earn 'love' by giving protection and security, and on the other earn 'hate' by setting limits and imposing restrictions.

Neither the positive nor negative transference feelings will be appropriate to the actual person of the therapist, and because of their infantile origins both will be exaggerated and distorted, perhaps tending towards idealised images such as the saint and the devil. As we progress in therapy both extremes should diminish in intensity and be replaced by a perception of the therapist as an actual person with both good and bad qualities.

The negative transference is an accumulation of all the bad feelings we experienced in relation to our parents during childhood, both the way we actually experienced them, and our phantasies about them. The positive transference is an accumulation of good feelings, partly memories of the way we actually experienced them, but, also, partly phantasies about how we wished they had been, which is a reflection of what we needed from them but didn't get.

A baby who does not get satisfactory parenting grows up harbouring a deep longing for it and a wish that one day he might meet someone who will provide what he needed but never got. The wish can create an idealised phantasy, perhaps a saint or an angel, and this can become manifest in the positive transference.

The extent to which we will be aware that both positive and negative transference is taking place, and in particular the extent to which we can see that the two co-exist as two sides of the same coin will depend on the nature and seriousness of our problems.

Both aspects of the transference need to be worked through as we progress towards the goal of a mature, realistic, adult relationship with the therapist which will enable us to have mature, realistic, adult relationships with others. The negative aspect, the fears that the therapist is harmful and destructive need to be worked through so that we can deepen our trust in him or her, and the idealised positive aspects need to be worked through so that we can meet him / her as a real human being.