ABSTRACT
The progress of the discipline of psychoanalysis is expressed perhaps most obviously in its theory of transference and the therapeutic effects of the interpretation of transference. The theory of transference rests on assumptions concerning repetition and regression or the influence of the past on the present; the roles of activity, passivity, and defensive measures; and the content of unconscious fantasy and conflict. One major point remains to be made about the logic of viewing transference interpretations as simplifying yet innovative redescriptions. Past and present are coordinated to show continuity rather than arranged in a definite causal sequence. The major transference phenomena represent the achievement of such simplified, focused ways of defining and acting within the analytic relationship that there can be no mistaking their meanings or avoiding their emotional manifestations or implications. Paradoxically, the solitude plays an essential role in the fullest possible expansion of the analysand’s conditions for loving.
