title: Transference symptom.
abstract: Transference symptom is a hazy notion in Freud's writings. The notion is presented here as a particular moment in the crystallization of the transference neurosis. It results from a double cathexis of the analytic frame and the analyst resulting in a symbolic distortion that is represented plastically within the session, as occurs in dreams. The transference symptom proceeds from two different preconscious cathexes, one attached to the reality of the frame, the other to the drive linked to the analyst. A psychic space is thereby opened up for interpreting both the resistance and the unconscious derivatives of infantile conflict. The transference symptom is a compromise formation that includes the analyst and questions the countertransference stance. Three different analytic situations give rise to transference symptoms according to the relative balance between frame and process in the analytic encounter. The concept is compared with enactment.
authors.affiliation: Canadian Psychoanalytic Society, 1115 des Laurentides, suite 2, Cité de Québec, QC, G1S 3C2, Canada. sirois.rondeau@sympatico.ca
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sirois
mesh_terms: D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005201:Fantasy; D005619:Freudian Theory; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D014167:Transference, Psychology