What is meant by “transference” and “abuse of transference”?
Transference is the phenomena which occurs in psychotherapy in which a patient, without realizing it, transfers perceptions and feelings which the patient had as a child on to the therapist. Thus, the patient reacts toward the therapist in a similar manner to which a young child would react toward a parent. This necessarily puts the therapist in an extremely powerful position and the patient in an extremely vulnerable position. For the therapist to take advantage of the transference phenomena by engaging in a sexual relationship or otherwise exploiting his or her patient is known as “abuse of transference” and sometimes is called “professional incest.
