Purposive aspects of the erotic transference

This paper illustrates the erotic transference of a male patient towards his female analyst and the pressures and resistances within the transference and counter-transference to act out sexually. The patient's desire to act out sexually is seen both as a form of repetition compulsion within the transference and, in its purposive aspect, as an expression of the patient's need to find a loving breast and an empathic father. The patient's confused sexual identity is seen as a narcissistic defence against the experience of unbeatable frustration in the pre-Oedipal stage. Through internalizing a new primal scene, the patient is able to separate from his past and to work through the Oedipus complex within the transference.