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Transference, or the process of the client projecting their feelings onto another person or object, is one of the most important psychoanalytic concepts still utilized today. Once the transference is identified, the counselor assumes a blank screen position, engaging the client in exposing the unconscious motivation behind the individual’s defense mechanisms by welcoming all transferred attitudes, feelings, impulses, and desires that were generated in early life by adults whom the client considers important. It is assumed that the motivations will appear on their own during this process, and they may then be examined and redirected by the conscious.

Countertransference describes an intense personal emotional reaction to the client’s narrative, which biases the counselor and influences the counselor’s unbiased approach to the therapeutic relationship and process. Although transference will impede successful therapy, the momentary recognition of this reaction by the therapist illuminates the emotions elicited by others in the client’s life (Thomas, 2008).