ABSTRACT
The key differences between psychoanalysis and humanistic psychotherapy concern the concept of transference. Psychoanalysts regard transference as the single most important element in any therapy which goes deep enough to change the whole character structure. Humanistic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis share the aim of changing character structure, but differ on method psychoanalysts deny that any method other than transference can go deep enough to achieve this goal. Janov says The Primal therapist does not deal with transference In fact, the patient-therapist relationship is ignored entirely. Transferential countertransference happens when the therapist responds as though the client is a parental figure or a sibling figure or suchlike. Something which must not be confused with countertransference is projective identification. Projective identification may play a role in the initial encounter with a newly diagnosed person. The difference is that while countertransference is the therapist's stuff, projective identification is the client's stuff.
