A reconsideration of the concept of transference neurosis

This paper presents clinical examples given by three analysts in response to an inquiry on the understanding of the term 'transference neurosis'. In view of differences and uncertainties uncovered in the course of the inquiry, it proposes that the term be reserved for the interrelated unfolding and understanding of increasingly specific transferences and their related unconscious fantasy/memory complexes through the psychoanalytic process. Specific transferences are distinguished from characterological transferences and are defined as new compromise formations involving the analyst as object entwined with pre-existing object representations from childhood and adolescence including those that comprise the nuclear infantile neurosis. The transference neurosis frequently makes its appearance silently, in the form of unnoticed enactments involving the analytic interaction so that it is advisable not to consider the patient's conscious awareness of feelings for the analyst as part of the definitional criteria.