Vicissitudes of the erotized transference: the impact of aggression

Little has been published concerning the erotized transferences which develop in the analyses of male patients in treatment with female analysts. Clinical material is presented in which a male patient developed both erotized and erotic transferences to his female analyst at differing times of the treatment. Using this material, differentiation is made between the nature of these transferences in relation to drive, affect, and ego functioning. It appears that the development of sexual transferences is more common in these cases than the review of the literature would suggest and that female analysts are less likely to report these cases than are their male colleagues. I would speculate that the aggressive and depreciating components of such transferences are overlooked by both male and female analysts. When treating opposite sex patients, male analysts may stress the sexual and loving nature of the transference wishes while female analysts may stress the wishes for nurturance, and merger.