transference (Übertragung) Initially used by Freud, Sigmund as an alternative word to displacement for describing the process of the transfer of libidinal energy between one ideation of an unconscious thought or wish and another. However, he also used it to denote what occurs in the relationship between analyst and analysand and it is this sense of the term that has become dominant, not the least because of the influence of Lacan, Jacques, who insists that the analytic relationship is the defining nucleus of psychoanalysis. Transference of this latter type refers to the process whereby the analysand poetics onto the analyst the affectionate (positive transference) or the hostile (negative transference) feelings aroused by the analysis. In effect, the analysand acts towards the analyst as though he or she were the embodiment of the figure important to them from childhood (e.g. father, mother, uncle, etc.). Freud noticed that this often occurred when the analysand seemed most reluctant to reveal something, so he counted it among the defences of the unconscious, describing it as a form of resistance. But inasmuch as the analysand is thereby repeating or rehearsing the essentials of the relationship they once had with their father, etc., the transference could also be made to serve a positive therapeutic purpose because it afforded the opportunity of working through in the immediacy of the present the issues from the past.