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Transference and encounter: The therapeutic relationship in psychoanalytic and existential psychotherapy.
Abstract
Delineates similarities and differences of the therapeutic relationship in psychoanalytic (PA) and existential (EX) psychotherapy. Through Freud's theory of transference, PA therapy attempts to search for the disguised, unconscious infantile complex in the past, whereas the phenomenological approach of the EX therapy attempts an unbiased, presuppositionless grasp of the patient's subjective, phenomenal world. EX therapy, which involves the personal "encounter" of doctor and patient, differs from PA therapy in that it presents an original meeting in which new dimensions of experience are opened up for the patient as opposed to the encounter of a repetition of earlier, conflicted relationships. Three psychoanalytic modifications are discussed in terms of their role in bringing the therapy processes and relationships closer together. PA therapy focuses on overcoming the forces of negativity through verbal insight, whereas EX therapy anticipates the spontaneous growth-potential of the patient through a more authentic relationship between doctor and patient. The most significant difference between EX and PA relationships involves the treatment of aggression and related phenomena (e.g., resistance, self-destructiveness, and the negative therapeutic reaction). (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter presents four case illustrations that give the reader a vivid, lived experience of how existential‐humanistic (EH) therapy actually unfolds between the clients and the therapists. The first two cases illustrates how EH therapists develop responsiveness to clients' feelings, experiences and protective patterns; develop collaborative and safe therapeutic relationships with clients; assess client motivation, level of functioning and capacity for presence, and work with levels of self‐protections and associated wounds by focusing on process over content. The third case is a vibrant example of how “here‐now,” experiential engagement can be creatively entwined with psychodynamic understanding of subconscious processes. The final case provides a brief illustration of “existential integrative” therapy. This case shows how availability to in‐depth or experiential change can potentially enhance any bona fide approach, which in this instance began with a cognitive‐behavioral slant.
Theoretically this thesis was grounded in the discourse of transpersonal psychology and the related discourse of transpersonal feminism. The focus was on a particular category of transpersonal phenomena - past-life experiences. These experiences were viewed from a poetic and therapeutic perspective as being healing stories of the unconscious that served to articulate psychological and spiritual realities of the human psyche within both the personal and the collective unconscious. They were thus not questioned in regard to their literal occurrence. The central aims of this thesis were to (a) document and faithfully describe a participant's past-life experiences that occurred during selected psychotherapy sessions, (b) engage in a hermeneutic dialogue between the participant's past-life experiences and contemporary transpersonal literature, and, in so doing, to evaluate and extend existing theory, (c) uncover the archetypal significance of past-life experience and its relationship to the re-emerging Feminine within patriarchal culture and, finally, (d) show how the past-life stories and images contribute to the process of inner healing and transformation, a process termed 'spiritual emergence'. The research was a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study, comprising the selection of eight consecutive psychotherapy sessions in which nine past-life experiences were identified. These sessions were reduced to narrative synopses, and a hermeneutically grounded thematic analysis of a total of six past-life themes were explicated. Principle conclusions reached were that past-life stories and images contribute to the process of spiritual emergence and empowerment as well as to the re-emergence of the Feminine consciousness. Moreover, as healing stories of the unconscious, these past-life experiences can be understood as expressions of the collective struggle with unresolved archetypal forces within the collective psyche, as well as echoes of personal conflicts and dilemmas from the individual unconscious.
In this paper, after noting the history of the development of the concept of transference and its application in clinical pratice, I offer a resume of some major criticisms of the concept. I pay special attention to a critique which may be made from an existential phenomenological perspective. I evaluate the current status of the concept of transference in clinical practice, arguing that the concept of transference should be retained, but placed on a sounder phenomenological footing, as advocated by authors such as May (1961, 1967), Boss (1963, 1979) and Binswanger (1962, 1963).
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