The context of transference interpretations in analytical group psychotherapy.

Transference interpretation varies with the underlying understanding of the concept of transference. We view the phenomena of transference in its multiple connections; its relationship to countertransference, its relationship to a particular kind of remembering that unfolds in sequence rather than in representation and its relationship to working through. The transference is expressed in the context of a "total situation" and in order to unfold, requires a time-space frame which variation will modify the nature of the transference available for interpretation. The analytical frame applied to a group situation creates an environment that promotes rapid and sometimes massive regression. We have introduced the notion of levels of transference to account for the state of self/object differentiation present in the group. This varies with the amount of regression, and depends on the severity of splitting, projection and projective identification. In terms of transferential objects available in the group, we recognize the analyst, other members and the group as a whole. The latter carries the more primitive transference and the underlying phantasy structure of the group transactions. We briefly described some possible errors in the interpretation of transference and their potential consequences.