Transference vs Displacement

take everything

Put me out of my misery please.
Doing a bit of study at the moment and (typically for me) i've become a bit fixated (sorry...) on this.

OK i'm clear about displacement.
Kicking the cat instead of letting your boss have it for example.
Displacing an unacceptable impulse to a different object (a defence mechanism ensuring safety/security of the ego).

Transference.
OK, i know it occurs where patients transfer feelings associated with past experiences/relationships to their doctor (be that negative or positive).
But:
Can transference be described as a type of displacement.
Is transference a defence mechanism.
Or is it not displacement/a defence mechanism because it's not defending anything (the ego).
In other words it's just a phenomenon that occurs in consultations and that's it?
It's always mentioned but what exactly is the function of transference.
Is it just there to potentially scupper the doctor-patient relationship :pac: (i know, i know...it's a tool for diagnosis as well if recognised by the therapist). But what's it's role. Does it defend the ego in any way like displacement etc?

At the risk of answering my own question, i'll shut up now.
Advice much appreciated.

JuliusCaesar

I'll let a psychodynamic person answer you, as other approaches to therapy may just go "huh?"

Valmont

I interpret transference to be the process of slowly conflating your problem(s) and your therapist after a period of time. I suppose to the extent that you only discuss and grapple with specific personal problems in a certain environment, the environment itself may become a 'trigger'. I would like to hear Odysseus' opinion on this?

MaxWig

take everything wrote: »

Transference.
OK, i know it occurs where patients transfer feelings associated with past experiences/relationships to their doctor (be that negative or positive).
But:
Can transference be described as a type of displacement.
Is transference a defence mechanism.
Or is it not displacement/a defence mechanism because it's not defending anything (the ego).
In other words it's just a phenomenon that occurs in consultations and that's it?
It's always mentioned but what exactly is the function of transference.
Is it just there to potentially scupper the doctor-patient relationship :pac: (i know, i know...it's a tool for diagnosis as well if recognised by the therapist). But what's it's role. Does it defend the ego in any way like displacement etc?

At the risk of answering my own question, i'll shut up now.
Advice much appreciated.

I'm not sure it has a 'function' in the sense you are pondering.

Therapeutically, it serves many functions if handled correctly.

I don't thinks its a defense either.

You could say it's a part of the ego responding to an aspect of the 'other' that it is activated by.

dar100

It is also possible to displace transference, also known as lateral transference.

Although this would be considered a defense, as opposed to transference "proper", which is about unconscious feelings been projected onto the therapist.