Mourning and erotic transference

This article proposes that the clinical mourning process is a critical factor in transforming an aggressively-laden erotic transference, and its potential for use as resistance, into a conscious erotic transference that progressively mobilizes the psychoanalytic treatment process. A psychoanalytic case is used to illustrate that the mourning of the pre-oedipal object allows an erotic transference to emerge into consciousness in treatment. The case also demonstrates that the erotic transference takes the form, not only of desiring, but also of mourning the oedipal level object. The case serves as a case in point in illustrating that erotic transference appears in cases in which female analysts treat male analysands. Further, it illustrates that erotic transference remains a primarily object-related phenomenon as opposed to being a merely narcissistic phenomenon. Finally, it illustrates the course of working through the erotic transference in an analytic treatment in which the therapeutic object relationship facilitates mourning.