Cross Cultural Differences in the Manifestation of Transference Outside the Psychoanalytical Setting

Transference is a phenomenon that, since its identification and description by Freud,1-6 has been the focus of study7-11 by those interested in the psychological principles of human interaction. Clara Thompson12 stated that “transference was not created by psychoanalysis. As long as human beings have had relationships with each other, there have probably been irrational elements in those relationships” (p. 273). According to her, these irrational elements have been quite evident in those relationships in which one person was in a position of authority. She pointed out that “when Freud first described the phenomena which he grouped under the name transference, he was merely clarifying something which has been used unwittingly by physicians in their treatment of the sick throughout the ages” (p. 273). She goes on stating that there is usually an element of dependency involved in these relationships. The other person is quite often placed in a position of authority either by the patient or circumstances. Therefore, not only physicians, but teachers, employers, supervisors, sometimes even a spouse or friend if the patient is dependent on them emotionally, financially, or any other manner, may be the recipients of transference reactions.

Saravay,13 looking at psychoanalytical concepts when applied to the treatment of the medically ill, pointed out that these patients are very often in a regressed state and “in a state of transference readiness.” Such concepts have been the focus of observation by other authors in the field Baudry and Wiener,14 Grossman,15,16 and Kernberg. 17 According to Baudry and Wiener,14 in these patients, the most common defense mechanisms used are denial, regression to a more childlike attitude, with “passive surrender and over idealization of the hospital and the surgeon” (p. 124). This idealization in the transference is a concept that has been largely described by Kohut18,19 in his treatment of narcissistic patients. Without fully endorsing his explanation of the phenomena, but rather as an empirical observation, idealization is here understood as a feature of the transference. In it, the love object is invested with powers, and usually, such a love object is overly idealized. Kohut talks about this aspect of the positive transference, stating that it is “closely akin to that encountered in the state of being in love” (p. 55).

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