The transference / counter-transference may be understood as follows:
THE TRANSFERENCE
Jung says: The analyst has a right to shut his door when a neurosis no longer produces any clinical symptoms and has debouched into the sphere of general human problems. The less he knows about these the greater his chances are of coming across comparatively reasonable patients who can be weaned from the transference that regularly sets in. But if the patient has even the remotest suspicion that the analyst thinks rather more about these problems than he says [in other words, if the analyst has some connection to the archetypal dimension], then he will not give up the transference all that quickly but will cling to it in defiance of all reasonwhich is not so unreasonable after all, indeed quite understandable. Even adult persons often have no idea how to cope with the problem of living, and on top of that are so unconscious in this regard that they succumb in the most uncritical way to the slightest possibility of finding some kind of answer or certainty. Were this not so, the numerous sects and isms would long since have died out. But, thanks to unconscious, infantile attachments, boundless uncertainty and lack of self-reliance, they all flourish like weeds. ( CW14: par. 750 )
THE PATIENT HANGS ON
TO THE ANALYST
Jung continues: The analyst who is himself struggling for all those things which he seeks to inculcate into his patients will not get round the problem of the transference so easily. The more he knows how difficult it is for him to solve the problems of his own life, the less he can overlook the fear and uncertainty or the frivolity and dangerously uncritical attitude of his patients. Even Freud regarded the transference as a neurosis at second hand and treated it as such. He could not simply shut the door, but honestly tried to analyze the transference away. This is not so simple as it sounds when technically formulated. Practice often turns out to be rather different from theory. You want, of course, to put a whole man on his feet and not just a part of him. You soon discover that there is nothing for him to stand on and nothing for him to hold on to. Return to the parents has become impossible, so he hangs on to the analyst. ( CW14: par. 751 )
CONIUNCTIO ARCHETYPE AS
BASIS OF THE TRANSFERENCE
The transference is probably the arena and the context where all the rich symbolism of the coniunctio can best be observed and encountered and worked with. The basis of the transference is the unconscious connection, the coniunctio archetype constellated unconsciously. In fact, we can put the issue even more broadly and say that the coniunctio archetype is probably the basis of the phenomenology of all human relationships
ML p.314TERRIBLE POWER DEMONSTRATED
BY CRUCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Think of those crucial relationships we have to deal with all the time, the terrible power they demonstrate in our patients: the mother-son relationship, father-daughter, brother-sister. These all owe their power to the coniunctio archetype living itself out unconsciously. And this same phenomenon comes up very commonly in the analytic situation when a strong transference develops
ML p.314NUMINOSITY OF THE CONIUNCTIO AS
BASIS OF THE TRANSFERENCE
It is evident from “The Psychology of the Transference,” and the way Jung elaborates its phenomenology, that he considers the best way of understanding and dealing with the transference is to recognize that its basis is the numinosity of the coniunctiothe archetype of wholeness. It is an image of the constellated Self which is conceived in the analyst-patient relationship. When that happens, it means the relationship takes on a charge of import for either good or ill; it can have very creative and releasing consequences if it evolves consciously, or dangerous, destructive consequences if it lives itself out in an unconscious way
ML p.314HOW WE ACTUALLY ENCOUNTER THE
TRANSFERENCE / COUNTER-TRANSFERENCE
I think I can best serve the practical application of this profound and difficult material we've been working with all year if I allow myself to speak at a little greater length about the transference / counter-transference phenomenon as a manifestation of the coniunctio archetype and how we actually encounter it
ML p.314NOTION OF INDUCTION
An image I think that is very helpful in understanding what goes on in the transference / counter-transference is the notion of induction. This idea derives from electromagnetic phenomenait is a term used in physics. If, for instance, I take a ring made of conducting materiallet's say an iron ringthen run an electric current through a coil wound around that ring, put a second coil around the ring, when current runs through the first coil it will induce a current in the other coil. That is induction. This image very aptly describes what happens in the analytic process which involves an encounter between two people in a setting that has a containing aspect to it analogous to the ring. The analytic setting is the ring, and each of the participants brings his or her own coil and electric circuit into that setting. So the particular electrical currents flowing through the psyche of the analyst are going to have an inductive effect on the patient. We see that all the time, of course. Another way of putting it is that there is a contagion effect
ML p.314REVERSE INDUCTION
Of course, the reverse also takes place: the electrical currents running through the psyche of the patient have an inductive effect on the analyst. Sometimes that inductive effect is of greater power and import than the former one, in which case the analyst can fall under the spell of the patient's psyche. The contents that are apt to appear in the transference all have to do with the coniunctio, but at different levels of maturity or immaturity, and at different levels of depth. For instance, two major distinctions can be made between different kinds of transferential contents: there is the personal level of the transference and the archetypal level
ML p.315THE PERSONAL TRANSFERENCE
In the personal transference will lie the relation to the parent of the opposite sex that will be constellated and projected, or induced into the relationship with the analyst. If, for instance, the patient is a woman working with a man, she's apt to project certain contents of her experience with her father. That can be positive, negative or neutral. But it will be a whole style or pattern of expectations and the transference will be a kind of new edition of the old pattern. This is the familiar Freudian aspect of the transference and of course it will have a definite incestuous quality to it. In fact, the theme of incest runs through all levels of the transference, but the personal level is very obviously incestuous. In such circumstances then, the inductive effect is that the analyst is subtly drawn into the family of the patient and subtly treated as a familiar. After all, “familiar” means belonging to the family. It might manifest itself in certain inappropriate actions or expectationsthe atmosphere gets stickyand if the analyst is not very astute in realizing what's going on, he or she can fall into the induced condition and function out of it
ML p.315BOTH `PERSONAL' AND `ARCHETYPAL'
LEVELS OF TRANSFERENCE
If there is unconsciousness on both sides, then one doesn't get any farther; one remains stuck. The crucial point of course is for the analyst to be aware of it and then, with that awareness, apply a reductive component of interpretation while at the same time not throwing out the baby with the bath water. We must remember that the transference does not come in neatly compartmentalized levels with one piece labeled “personal” and another labeled “archetypal.” It comes all as one hunk. While we're interpreting the personal level of the transference we have to keep in mind that the archetypal, creative level is also there. That is the baby, and it is most important not to throw it out with the bath water
ML p.315Not long ago, I had a patient tell me explicitly that she had the irrational fear I was going to discharge her after just a brief period. The fantasy was, as she said, “You are carrying my baby and I'm afraid you're going to insist on an abortion.” Well, I didn't know that I looked all that maternal, but you see the fantasy thought so. The fantasy was speaking of the ring that had been createdthe analytic containerand already within that container the potential Self had been conceived and was growing
SUPREME LIFE VALUE RESIDES
IN THE TRANSFERENCE
That supreme life value, then, is residing in the transference, and that indeed is typically the case when a sizable transference develops. Therefore, though it often has immature and disagreeable outer trappings, the core of it is the coniunctio, the Self, the highest goal of psychic development. That is the baby we must not throw out with the bath water
ML p.316ARCHETYPAL DIMENSION OF
THE TRANSFERENCE
What frequently happens as one proceeds is that the personal level of the transference is assimilated and then the archetypal level is opened up. That feature is utterly unique to Jungian psychologyno other school of psychotherapy knows beans about the archetypal transference. It is unknown. That is a treasure we carry, the awareness of that archetypal dimension of the transference. What it then opens us up to is that very often the analyst becomes the target of archetypal projections, not just personal projections, not just the projections of one's experience of one's parents. So the Self is born out of the transference, potentially; the whole promise of individuation is carried temporarily in projection onto the analyst
ML p.316ARCHETYPAL PROJECTIONS OF
GOD AND DEVIL
In certain cases this issue is of such extreme importance that it takes on the urgency of a life or death situation. That means the ultimate archetypal projections are often activated: God and the devil, two sides of the same phenomenon. Another way of seeing it is that an extreme transference is a psychological version of the clutchings of a drowning person
ML p.316EXCEEDINGLY DANGEROUS TO ACCEPT
THE PROJECTION OF GOD
One has to be very careful when one is the recipient of such extreme projections. Usually the transference is positive at first; if it is initially a negative projection of any size, then the patient will go to somebody else or the whole process will break down. But usually the archetypal transference appears in positive form and the analyst is then granted some of the attributes and prerogatives of deitynot consciously and overtly, but subtly and unconsciously. And it is exceedingly important that the analyst not fall into a passive acceptance of that state of affairs which is easy to do since it is so flattering. It is very gratifying to be so perceived; it is a great balm to one's vanity. But it is exceedingly dangerous to accept the projection of God, because if you accept it, you then take on divine responsibility which you are not able to fulfill; and sooner or later the projection will reverse and you'll be seen as the devil. With your divine power you fail to make things right for the patient and then you become the devil
ML p.316