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Despite emerging frequently in the psychoanalytic process, there is a sparseness of literature on erotic transferences and countertransferences. There is also a tendency to desexualize the psychoanalytic process due to the inherent threat erotic transferences can pose. This gap in training and continuing education leaves practitioners ill-equipped to deal with the intense affects and pressures that tend to arise with erotic transferences.  This presentation will address this gap in our knowledge base by presenting an overview of the topic, clarifying terminology, and providing vivid case examples.

Learning Objectives:

1. To examine the ways in which the analyst’s countertransference can foster, facilitate, or inhibit the emergence of the full intensity of erotic transferences at different phases of the treatment.

2. Acquire greater comfort in the identification and exploration of their own countertransference, especially as it emerges in erotic forms.

3. To clarify and enumerate the pressures on the analyst given her professional role, personal needs, and the nature of the analytic setting.

Andrea Celenza, PhD is aTraining and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; faculty, NYU Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and The Florida Psychoanalytic Center; and, Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School