ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the differences between the analysable erotic transference and the more complicated psychotic erotization, for which D. Meltzer’s concept of the Claustrum is particularly helpful. Although there is a general consensus that erotization is a defence against engagement in the psychoanalytic process, ways have been found to work with such patients despite the difficulties, mainly through closer, detailed observation of the relationship between transference and countertransference. Blitzsten was the first to coin the new terminology in a personal unpublished communication to E. A. Rappaport: In a transference the analyst is seen as if he were the parent, while in erotization of the transference he is the parent. According to H. R. Etchegoyen, erotic transference develops slowly and unevenly in an attempt to delay the resolution of the Oedipus conflict, whereas erotization aims at the preservation of the narcissistic organization and becomes evident already in the early stage of analysis.
