One of the most common phenomena occurring in almost every therapy session is the concept of transference. The psychotherapist Michael Kahn in his book “Between Therapist and Client” presents a traditional psychodynamic view of transference: “ When people enter therapy, the way they see and respond to the therapist and the reactions they set out to provoke are influenced by two tendencies: they will see the relationship in the light of their earliest ones and they will try to engender replays of earlier difficult situations. To these perceptions, responses and provocations, Freud gave the name transference, meaning that the client transfers onto the therapist the old patterns and repetitions” (cited in Kahn 1997 p.27).
As a therapist, the existence of transference has always fascinated me. My clients are also amazed at just how much their earlier relationships play out in the therapy room. They are grateful for the insight and new direction this can bring to their life.
However, reading further into transference from a body-centred perspective, Will Davis suggests transference is not just a psychological phenomenon (the relationship between the therapist and client) but is more an energetic phenomenon. He draws from Freud’s idea that transference involves “the radiation of the libido”. In layperson terms, the initial phase of therapy is to draw all the libido (the unconscious unresolved childhood issues) away (radiate out) from the presenting problem and concentrate it onto the relationship with the therapist. Once this has occurred these repressed libidinal impulses can be worked on in the present with the therapist leading to the resolution of the problem.
Davies suggests that if transference is described in terms of the radiation of the libido, it is in essence an energetic function. A person, in the client’s past, is sought as a result of a spontaneous energetic function, not just due to a past attachment issue (the client seeking a substitute good father/mother in the therapist). Davis suggests that for transference, we need to take into account the energetic aspects, the original source of the Oedipal complex, the radiating, the libidinal strivings needing completion. The client does not only want to repair the damage, she is striving for the love from the person, the love she never got in childhood (libidinal sought object). These strivings are living energetic processes that do not go away once she faces her repressed emotions. Even when she works through her pain of dad not loving her or falls in love with the therapist, she is not striving for dad, she is longing to know how to love, to be loved, to be a sexual being, to be in healthy respectful relationships.
In my sessions with a caring therapist (much different to my distant and emotionally abusive father), his warm presence, loving attention and genuine concern for me led me to not only resolve the issues with my father, but I learnt that men can love me and I learnt how to love. This was an energetic living exchange between my therapist and I working on my libidinal strivings/ yearnings for love.
Thus to conclude, rather than just being viewed as a resolution of past attachment issues, transference should more be viewed as a living phenomenon, where the therapist works energetically with the libidinal strivings, the body, mind and soul of the client, teaching new pathways to love and life in the present living moment.
Author:
Helen Stathis (Certified Radix Practitioner)
References:
Davies, W. (1989). Transference notes from Teacher Training Program. The Australian Radix Training Centre.
Kahn, M. (1997). Between Therapist and Client: The New Relationships. Henry Holt and Company LLC.