The position and value of extratransference interpretation.

Abstract

The role of extratransference interpretation in the theory of technique has been insufficiently defined and only tangentially discussed. Extratransference interpretation refers to interpretation that is relatively outside the analytic transference relationship. Although interpretive resolution of the transference neurosis is the central area of analytic work, transference is not the sole or whole focus of interpretation, or the only effective "mutative" interpretation, or always the most significant interpretation. Extratransference interpretation has a position and value which is not simply ancillary, preparatory, and supplementary to transference interpretation. Transference analysis is essential, but extratransference interpretation, including genetic interpretation and reconstruction, is also necessary, complementary, and synergistic. Transference is a repetition that requires analysis of its genetic sources in childhood conflict and fixation. Transference and reality, past and present, are newly defined, understood, and integrated in the analytic process. Transference fantasy cannot be clarified without understanding the "grains of truth" to which it may be anchored in reality inside and outside the analytic situation. The analyst's real attitudes and attributes may influence the transference and transference analysis. Countertransference also tends to evoke transference reactions which are unique to each patient, so that there are contributions from both parties to the analytic process and the analytic data. Analytic understanding should encompass the overlapping transference and extratransference spheres, fantasy and reality, past and present. A "transference only" position is theoretically untenable and could lead to an artificial reduction of all associations and interpretations into a transference mold and to an idealized folie à deux.