THE DYNAMICS OF NEGATIVE TRANSFERENCE AND DESTRUCTIVE FORMS OF TRANSFERENCE

There are few papers on the technical term ''negative transference.'' In particular, the handling of its affective dynamics causes considera ble therapeutic difficulties. The author presents aspects of a psychoa nalytic process in which negative transference and its reflection in d reams and countertransference reactions are emphasized. Taking the new psychoanalytic concepts in developmental psychology into consideratio n, the author argues in favor of the hypothesis that a positive meanin g and intention are concealed even in a striking negative transference : a desire for the integration of split parts of the self and a search for inner autonomy. Protected by the positive transference, the destr uctive reactions can be psychoanalytically investigated and transforme d.