The analyst's transference imagery.

The countertransference is a concept whose meaning has changed considerably. Freud and his followers regarded it as a negative reaction in the treatment which the analyst had to master. Since 1950 and Paula Heimann's pioneering paper, the countertransference has been understood and used more positively and has come to be seen as an essential tool for achieving completeness in the work of analysis. In line with this approach, this paper describes a countertransference reaction which has proved to be useful. It concerns the appearance of images of houses in the analyst. These houses correspond to important experiences revived by the analysand's material. The emotional content of these images links up with an identical content in the patient. An interpretation based on this experience has an enhanced therapeutic strength and effect. The paper concludes with a case study and a theoretical discussion of the phenomenon.