Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Protocol for Studying Extinction of Conditioned Fear in Naturally Cycling Female Rats
Published on: February 23, 2015
The influence of the gender of patient and analyst in the psychoanalytic relationship
1Personality Disorders Institute, New York Hospital-Cornell Center, Westchester Division, USA. Okernber@mail.med.cornell.edu
Abstract:
An overview of current explorations of the influence of gender on the psychoanalytic situation is presented. The topic does not lend itself to simple generalizations because the accumulated experience of several generations of psychoanalysts is now merging with newer views of psychoanalytic technique, while at the same time psychoanalytic theory is being influenced by changing ideological crosscurrents and by new knowledge regarding the similarities and differences in the development of both genders. Major issues still open are the relationship between gender and sexuality and between erotic desire and love; the challenges of the boundary of the psychoanalytic relationship as a facilitating and containing frame for the exploration of oedipal conflicts; and the related temptations, prohibitions, and derivatives of the erotic tension in the transference-countertransference.
Related Concept Videos
Freudian Psychology
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Anal
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Phallic
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Elements Crucial for Effective Psychotherapy
The Therapeutic Alliance
The therapeutic alliance refers to the relationship between the therapist and the client. The alliance strengthens when the therapist and the client engage in a nurturing, supportive, trusting, empathetic, and respectful relationship, improving therapeutic outcomes. Therapists must monitor this relationship...
Psychodynamic Therapy

