Transference neurosis, transference borderline, and transference psychosis--as seen through a case of obsessive-compulsive neurosis treated successfully through regression to the state of transference psychosis.

Transference manifestations are divided into the neurotic, borderline, and psychotic, and their corresponding states are termed transference neurosis, transference borderline, and transference psychosis, respectively. This paper discusses the onset of these conditions and their relationship to each other through the process of long-term psychotherapy of a case of obsessive-compulsive neurosis manifesting all three forms of transference. The transference neurosis appeared naturally soon after initiating psychotherapy, but the transference borderline and the transference psychosis appeared at the peak of transference neurosis and transference borderline, respectively, triggered by defeat in an imaginary triangular relationship. This case was not that of shifting from transference neurosis to transference borderline, and from there on to transference psychosis. Even though the newly appearing form of transference was the tangible form appearing in therapeutic situations and became more prominent, this was a case of two, or all three forms of transference existing together. Additionally, although the transference psychosis was prominent for some time, it gradually declined, leaving transference borderline and transference neurosis to coexist, until their simultaneous resolution and disappearance.