ABSTRACT
In short, whatever psychological treatment is to be successful it must be relevant to the aetiology of the illness. One of the theories of psycho-analysis is that every neurosis has its nucleus within the Oedipus complex (though it may have threads running back to even earlier fixation points) and that any form of psychotherapy which fails to reveal and resolve the Oedipus complex fails to reach the essential source of the illness and therefore at best can achieve only partial and temporary alleviation. Psycho-analysts will admit that a condition of positive transference, although quite blind and unanalysed, often has the effect of alleviating, if not causing the complete disappearance of, practically all the patient’s symptoms. Although all the analyst’s real difficulties reside in his own unconscious mechanisms, the most serious form in which these are likely to express themselves is in the form of what is called counter-resistance and counter-transference.
