The Transference in the Humanist Perspective of Erich Fromm Jorge

The Transference in the Humanist Perspective of Erich Fromm

Jorge Silva García

Paper presented at the Hospital Central Militar in Mexico City on June 21st, 1991.

Fromm states (1979 p. 38): flict is his fear of aloneness, often lived as a ceas- “Another crucial concept in Freud's system ing to be, as not being. is that of transference first observed it in the "The transference phenomenon, namely the Case of Anna O. (Breuer and Freud 1893, voluntary dependence of a person on an- and Freud 1910). This concept was the re- other person in authority, because he/she sult of the clinical observation that analy- feels helpless, in need of a leader, of a sands develop a strong tie to the person of strong authority and is ready to submit to the analyst during the treatment. This tie this authority, is one of the most important could of times be love, admiration, attach- phenomena in social life, quite beyond the ment and, at others, a blending of hate, individual family and the analytic situation. opposition and aggression”. Anybody who is willing to see can discover “What makes this transference particu- the tremendous role that transference plays larly interesting is that it grows out of the socially, politically and in religious life. One therapeutic situation rather than out of the has only to look at the faces in a crowd that qualities of the analyst. He came to the applauds a charismatic leader like Hitler or conclusion that the analysand in the ana- De Gaulle, and one sees the same expres- lytic process developed many feelings which sion of blind awe, adoration, affection, he or she had as a child toward one of the something in fact which transforms the face parents. In other words, the feelings toward from its humdrum daily expression into that the analyst were 'transferred' from the of a passionate believer. As in the psycho- original object to the person of the analyst. analytic transference, this has almost noth- Until Freud, nobody had cared to investi- ing to do with the real human qualities of gate the affective attitude of a patient to- the admired person. ward the physician. Usually, the physicians “The transference in the analytic situa- accepted with satisfaction that the patients tion and the worship of leaders in adult life 'adored' them, and, if the patients did not, are not different: they have their basis in then the physician often disliked them for the sense of helplessness and powerlessness not being 'good patients'”. (Fromm: op. cit. of the child which leads to its dependence p. 38f). on the parents... What is often overlooked, however, is the fact that the adult (can be) Of course Freud framed all of this in the univer- helpless too”. One must repeat: “The social salization of the Oedipus Complex, his ideas of transference born out of the same sense of women as castrated males with “penis envy”, helplessness as the psychoanalytic transfer- etc. ence is one of the most important social Within the theoretical humanistic frame- phenomena... A society whose members are work of Fromm, where the human nuclear con- helpless needs idols”. (Fromm: op. cit. pp.

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41ff. - Emphasis added). concept of love, so well described by Fromm in The art of loving (1956), is a mere ideology In order to understand how the transference is without its necessary affective component. analysed, we must devote a little time to de- Fromm's (1956) and Bowlby's (1958) ideas scribe briefly, the normal and pathological de- dovetail neatly; Fromm's from his perspective of velopment of human beings. We must begin by the dual role of mother-love: on the one hand, pointing to an apodictic fact: the object of life is she must love and protect and feel an at-oneness to live, despite the fact that quite often it seems with the child; and, on the other hand, she must as if humans are set on destroying it. Since life help the child to become gradually independent appeared on this planet, it has developed in the of her, as it's motor and phychic strength permit most diverse forms and it is quite possible that this. Bowlby presents his idea from the point of evolution has not yet come to an end. We can- view of the child, who has a need for attach- not begin to imagine what the pool of life will ment, to feel protected and cared-for and has do confronted by so many contaminents, but it his other need of autonomy. But Bowlby here is probable that the necessary mutants will ap- does not speak of love, a love that for Fromm pear so that life can continue. Perhaps this implies care, knowledge, interest and responsi- thought comes because it is rather inconciveable bility and thus it also implies a spontaneous- that this Earth should become completely dead. warm-loving-mother-child relationship that pre- “The neonate emerges as an organism cludes possessiveness, overprotectiveness and re- whose responsiveness is centered on and geared jection. to a perceptual-motor-effective dialogue with Since the aim of life is to live, the newborn the mother” or the mothering person. “The fo- must adapt, if he is to survive, to the conditions cus of their gaze is most accurate for objects of his family environment be it a facilitating en- about eight inches away—the exact distance vironment, a marked sado-masochistic one, a from the mother's eyes when an infant is held in very traumatizing one where he is rejected, not the normal breast or bottle-feeding position”. loved, or one of scarcity and hunger. (Lichtenberg 1983). This position during feeding The child's character orientation with its is indispensable not only for the primary need positive and negative aspects is structured during of feeding, but also, importantly, as a stimulus its growing-up process, and at the same time for the ulterior development of their affective they conform their frame of orientation and de- area; so much so, that this affective area does votion (Fromm 1955 pp. 63-66). At variance not develop in congenital esophageal atresia with the character orientation that can only that impedes normal breast feeding. In the case change its negative aspects into positive ones, or of known adults, that suffered this atresia, they vice versa; the frame of orientation and devo- are cold and distant persons. But, if the new- tion can undergo rather radical —not to say to- born is breastfed despite the fact that is regurgi- tal— changes, for it can be modified by all tates on the nurturing breast, because the learning processes, by all new knowledge ac- mother overcomes her understandable repug- quired and by our capacity to objectify. This nance and frustration, the neonate develops its frame is indispensable to find our place, to ex- affective area like anyone else. plain, to give meaning and make sense of this Winnicott (1965) coined the apt concept of fast changing world where the unexpected, the the “facilitating environment” that expresses the frightening or tragic events are commonplace. It need that for the best adaptation and develop- does not matter if our frame of orientation and ment of the infant, the transit from the stable in- devotion is illusory or false, as when we thought trauterine condition to the unstable extrauterine that the Earth was the center of our planetary one be as suave and gradual as possible. Unfor- system; and despite this, we could still predict tunately, the “facilitating environment” is not the eclipses of the Sun, the Moon, and of Venus. the usual occurrance: what is frequent is to We have stated that the child has to accept emerge into a conflictful family milieu concom- as normal, if it is to survive, all that takes place mitant with our alienated society, in which the in his environment and consequently the infant

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must rationalize what is neither objective nor ”Coming around a bend, they met a true, thus integrating the deformations of reality lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable presented to her or him. They assume thus (only to cross the intersection. to mention a few examples), that “normal” hu- ”'Come on, girl', said Tanzan, at once man interactions are sado-masochistic; they lifting her in his arms and he carried her learn “machismo” and propagate the not so in- over the mud. frequent violent relationships between husband ”Ekido did not speak again until that and wife; man's fear of women is an habitual night when they reached a lodging temple. experience since infancy, as is the fear of Then he could no longer restrain himself. warmth, tenderness, love and friendship. Au- 'We monks don't go near females', he told thoritarian ethics (Fromm 1947 pp. 8-12), Tanzan, 'especially not young and lovely amongst other experiences, teach that obedience ones. It is dangerous. Why did yo do that?' is the virtue par excellence and that the greatest “'I left the girl there' said Tanzan. 'Are sin is to disobey (Fromm 1981): thus, a good you still carrying her?'” (Zenzaki and Reps: child is one who submits to his parents, and a 1957 p. 33f). bad child is one who becomes psychologically independent from them. The prohibition to dis- We are like Ekido, and we continue to carry our obey leads to passivity and submissiveness, all particular “geisha”. As psychoanalysts, we do too frequently abject; as it leads to the absence not need to know many biographical data at or the severe limitation of the capacity to form the beginning. In due course, we want to know rational judgment. how many members were there in his family of “This becomes very clear if we study the origin; the place our analysand holds and the function of rationalization. However unrea- socio-economic background of his family. This sonable or immoral an action may be, man latter in order to know something about their has an insuperable urge to rationalize it, social character. We ask for three childhood that is, to prove to himself and to others memories, in a free choice, to see the present that his action is determined by reason, day perspective of the family of our subject. We common sense, or at least conventional request that they relate an average week day morality. He has little difficulty in acting ir- and a Sunday (day of rest) from the hour they rationally, but it is almost impossible for get up till bed time, and repetitive dreams. We him not to give his actions the appearance listen to what they say and most significantly, to of reasonable motivations”. (Fromm 1955 what they do not say. For the rest, with pa- p. 65). tience, the past pertinent data will emerge, rati- fying or rectifying our work hypothesis. We must be aware that rationalizations work (Fromm: Personal Communication). both ways: on the one hand they are the result In the dyad, where at each session analy- of repressions, and, on the other, they aid and sand and analyst confront each other face-to- abet repression, as substitutes for rational and face with nothing in between for the therapist objective thought processes. to hide behind, slowly, in the dialogue, the ana- During psychoanalysis, the analysand learns lysand's frame of orientation and devotion is to de-repress, to clarify, to confront, and to de- tested, corrected, clarified, and objectified by mythify the numerous rationalizations he held in him, and the transference, as the frame changes, order to survive. Also, the analysand is able to is thus also slowly transcended. We have stated clarify and change irrational facets of his frame that in order to avoid ostracism and the fear of of orientation and devotion in the HERE and abandonment the distortions of the frame of NOW, for we tend to carry the past into the orientation and devotion are learned in the fam- present, as related in the following Zen story: ily and within the social group or subgroup. The “Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling to- sense of psychological impotence, moral cow- gether down a muddy road. A heavy rain ardliness, the lack of aliveness, hatreds, etc., are was still falling. all quite frequently repressed. These distortions

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constitute the basis of the transference material, nothing is now far away. like the geisha we continue to carry and have not left behind after lifting her over the mud. As we leave her in the past, we are free to choose Bibliography our own goals and we can only leave her in the Bowlby, John (1958): The nature of the child's tie to past, when we have experiences and lived his mother. Intern. Journ. of Psychoan. Vol. through our ghostly fears of aloneness and the XXXIX pp. 350-373. fear of freedom for, and when we can assume Breuer, & Freud 1893): Fräulein Anna O. Standard the risks and responsibilities of our decisions Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund without rationalizations. Freud. Vol. II pp. 21-47. The Hogarth Press. Any brusque change of the frame of orien- London 1955. tation and devotion can produce reactive de- Edwards, R.C., Reich, M. and Weisskopf, T.E. (1972): pressions or psychotic episodes of diverse sever- The Capitalist System: A radical analysis of ity, as in instances of transculturation shocks american society. Prentiss-Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. which have happened to immigrants, political Freud, Sigmund (1910): Five Lectures on Psychoanaly- refugees, “wet-backs”, foreign students, etc. The sis. Standard Edition. Vol. XI pp. 9-55. The finding of familiar foods, music, news, congenial Hogarth Press. London 1957. groups and so on, may help adjust to the new Fromm, Erich (1947): Man for Himself. Rinehart and environment or impede this adjustment, for if Company, Inc. New York. the past frame is reorganized; this has often Fromm, Erich (1955): The Sane Society. Rinehart and happened to immigree ethnic groups. Co. Inc. New York. Many prejudices, like racism, elitism, sexism Fromm, Erich (1956): The Art of Loving. Harper and (Edwards et al: 1972 pp. 25-27) that form part Brothers Publishers. New York. Fromm, Erich (1964): The Heart of Man. Harper and of the irrational social component of the frame Row, Publishers. New York. of orientation and devotion are transmitted Fromm, Erich (1979): Greatness and Limitations of from parents to children thoughtlessly. The Freud's Thought. Harper and Row, Publishers. doors to corruption, to facile enrichment regard- New York. less of the means; to lying, cheating, to cant and Fromm, Erich (1981): On Disobedience and Other Es- cinisism have been opened when we privilege says. The Seabury Press. New York. money and “social prestige”. Lichtenberg, Joseph D.: Psychoanalysis and Infant Re- Individual and social transference can be search. The Analytic Press. Hillsdale, New Jer- transcended, within or outside the psychoana- sey. Winnicott H, Donald W. (1965): The Maturational lytic dyad, de-repressing, clarifying, demythify- Process and the Facilitating Environment. The ing and objectifying reality. This transcendence Hogarth Press. London. Third Impression. can occur in the psychoanalyst and in the par- 1976. ents, as well as it can change the social mores, Zenzaki, Nyogen and Reps, Paul (1957): Zen Flesh, local and universal. After all, our world is be- Zen Bones: 101 Zen Stories. Charles E. Tuttle coming smaller changes can affect all of us; Co. Rutland, Vermont, 2nd Printing. 1958.

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