Review of History of Countertransference: From Freud to the British Object Relations School

Reviews the book, History of Countertransference: From Freud to the British object relations school by Alberto Stefana (see record 2017-46136-000). Stefana follows the development of this concept over time, exploring a very precise trend which begins with the original notion put forward by Sigmund Freud and leads to the ideas of Melanie Klein and the British object relations school. As the title of the book and its content makes clear, Freud must still be reckoned with—whatever our transference or countertransference to him may be. Stefana does the field an enormous service by reminding and confronting us with the timeless relevance of Freud’s still radical psychoanalytic technique both generally and to the application of the clinical concept of countertransference in particular. And he puts the ball squarely in our court: In order to actualize the capacity to tolerate our free-floating attention and all it implies, we must first thoroughly reckon with ourselves through our training analysis and self-analysis. Only then may we spontaneously apprehend the elephant in its awesome and therapeutic wholeness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)