ABSTRACT
D. Adam-Lauterbach discusses sibling transference–countertransference development in therapeutic processes. The object relationships of adults are based on their early experiences with family members, which is why therapist should examine their early childhoods and, especially, the role that a sibling played for a child. Whereas grandparents often see their grandchildren irregularly, siblings live in everyday contact with each other and share many common experiences and constructive games, as well as quarrels. This is why there can be no doubt that a sibling influences the socialisation of a child. Psychoanalytic theory changed to a focus on the mother-child relation, away from the father, and on early processes. As J. Mitchell describes, the disappearance of hysteria in the twentieth century can be connected with the failure of psychoanalytic theory to give a structured and symbolic place to sibling relationships. Whereas a child’s relation to its parents can be described as vertical, the connection to its siblings can be seen as horizontal.
