Beyond Transference: The Relationship between Freud and Rolland

Regardless of the differences in goals and composition, groups operate at many levels of communication as a result of the complex structure of the human psyche and the developmental stages of the human being. Group psychotherapists focus primarily on the transference level because reliving traumatic infantile experiences in the light of new group conditions facilitates the resolution of pathological conflicts. They identify two distinct levels of transference: (1) the oedipal hostile or incestuous feelings (oedipal transference) and (2) the more regressive object relations (pre-oedipal transference). This paper explores the thesis that in groups as well as in dyadic situations more archaic pre-object phenomena are aroused at a level of communication that is not one of transference. The relationship between Sigmund Freud and Romain Rolland serves as an illustration.