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2/10/2015

Transference vs. Projection: What's the Difference?

A couple months ago, I got angry at my therapist. She hadn't done anything to hurt me or offend me or provoke me. I was just mad. So I sent her an email, explaining all the “reasons” why I was angry at her. I clustered those reasons into five paragraphs, all of which started with “I'm angry because….” My therapist sent a kind email in response, thanking me for sending that email to her and assuring me that what I said made sense. When I showed up for my appointment the following week, the first thing she wanted to talk about was that email. She reiterated that the feelings I was having made sense and there was even a word for what I was experiencing. “It's called transference,” she said. Ooooooohhhhhhhh…. That thing. I've heard of that.

Transference. I think a lot of people have heard that term before. For some reason I always confuse that word with another fun psych buzzword: projection. And judging from a brief initial web surfing excursion, I think a lot of people confuse the two. To help me get a firmer grasp on what these terms mean, I read through several seemingly trustworthy web pages about psychology written by psychologists, psychiatrists, and licensed counselors. This is my understanding of transference and projection based on my reading.

Transference takes place when someone transfers another person's qualities, feelings, behaviors, etc., to a different person and then reacts to the different person as if he/she were the other person. (Well said. Or not so much.) Let's try it this way. It takes at least three people to have a transference scenario. So we have three people: I/Me, Present Person, and Past Person. I used to be around Past Person a lot and she always got impatient with Me when I asked questions, so after a while I feared asking her questions because I didn't like being yelled at. Now I hang around Present Person a lot and because I anticipate her becoming impatient just like Past Person, I am afraid to ask Present Person questions for fear she will also yell at me. In a sense, transference is like looking at a person but seeing someone else. The image below depicts a specific instance of transference I experience with my therapist due to previous interactions with my dad.

Illustration of transference: Transferring experiences with my dad to expectations of my therapist.

So even though my therapist is not my dad, and even in my most confused of states I know she's not my dad (the fact that she's female kind of gives that away), I behave as if she is. Because I anticipate her laughing at me if I exhibit emotion around her, I avoid experiencing feelings when I am in her office. This is not the most helpful of things for a person in therapy to do, but at least now I understand that I do it for a reason.

Projection is less complex, in my humble opinion. Projection happens when a person projects their own qualities, feelings, behaviors, etc., onto another person. Whereas transference takes three people, projection only requires two: This time we have I and Other Person. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and have been a grouchy wretch all day. After an encounter with Other Person, I walk away irritated, complaining to myself about Other Person's grouchiness. The classic example, right? You are acutely aware of the horrible qualities, behaviors, attitudes, etc., of that super-annoying person next to you, only to be informed that it is you who have the horribleness. When you look at that person, you don't see that person, you see you! Horror of all horrors! The image below depicts a possible instance of projection in therapy. [NOTE: I'm not really bitter. I just couldn't think of any of my bad qualities because I'm by myself and I have no one to project them onto right now. Clever, huh?]

Illustration of projection: Projecting my own personality traits onto my therapist.

To manage something effectively, I think you need a basic understanding of what it is you're trying to manage. With my basic understanding of transference and projection, I'm going to try to take note of when I am experiencing these things and learn how to see people for who they are.

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Thanks for reading! It's great to hear from you. -J

  1. Anonymous12/18/2015

    What a lovely, straight-forward and humorous explanation, thank you very much. It beats an awful lot of psychology sites for it's simplicity and even has a dash of charm thrown in! Wonderful.

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    1. Thank you for the kind, positive feedback. :) I hope to put together similar posts in the future.

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  2. Please could you create a similar definition for countertransference? There are lots of explanations about this in the professional counselling context, but it would be nice if you could also explain how it sometimes happens in everyday living too. With pictures would be even better! :-).

    Btw I now remember the difference between transference and projection by thinking of the initial letter 't': three people involved in transference. Maybe this will help others too.

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    1. Hello! Thank you for stopping by, reading, AND commenting! Countertransference is something I find more difficult to understand, so I will have to do more research on it before I am comfortable posting anything. But I will give it a try. It may take a couple weeks to study, write, and get some pictures figured out, so stay tuned! I'll plan to make it happen. :)

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    2. I would like to see something on countertransference too. You have a wonderful way of explaining things in everyday language! Maybe you've already- I'll have to check. Note to self: "T" means there are THREE people involved in Transference ....got it! :)

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    3. Thanks so much for the positive feedback! I find it really helps me understand when I can write out my understanding of concepts in my own words. I'm glad (and humbled) that it is helping others too. :) I started researching countertransference yesterday, so I plan to have the post on that in the works soon-ish.

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  3. HI J, thanks, that'll be great. And I've just noticed your list of blogs you read - very helpful. M.

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  4. Countertransference is when you're at the diner and after they bring you your food you move from sitting at the counter and transferring to a booth table...

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    1. Ha! I had to think about that for a sec. Clever, clever.

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  5. Anonymous4/27/2017

    Thank you very much for this! I study Counselling at college right now and part of my assignment is to explain Transference and Projection. This really helped me to grasp a better understanding :)

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    1. Glad it is helpful! Good luck in your studies. Counselling is such a worthy profession.

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  6. This was very helpful! I particularly appreciated the illustrations, which really made the concept come through.

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  7. Thank you for the wonderful explanation J! The use of images helped understanding while your choice of words and the way you put it really clarified my doubt.

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