Transference Analysis: Play by Play

Learning objectives

After listening and discussing, participants should be able to:

1. Define transference and countertransference.
2. Identify transference cues in a session.
3. Discuss how and when a therapist might name transference with a client.

Discussion questions

1. What cues in the session signaled that the client was relating to the therapist the way she related to a parent?
2. How did the therapist respond? What might she have been feeling (countertransference)?
3. The sportscast format treats insight as a game-winning play. What does that get right, and wrong, about how change happens in therapy?
4. How do transference reactions show up in non-psychiatric settings, such as a surgeon's clinic or an emergency department?
5. How do you tell the difference between transference and a reasonable reaction to something the therapist actually did?

Quick activity

Commentate a short (fictional) session transcript in pairs: one person calls the “plays” while the other explains the psychology.

How to run it

Play the episode together (3 minutes) or assign it beforehand. Start with the first question to let people react to the humor, then move to the harder ones. Remind the group that the episode is satire and some of its “facts” are invented; spotting which ones is a good exercise in itself.

Background reading

• What is transference in therapy?