275: Working with Transference: Timing, Technique, and the Here-and-Now with Jonathan Shedler
August 14, 2026
AI Summary
5 min read“The transference is never not there. And the countertransference is never not there. If there’s two people in a room interacting and they’re alive, there’s transference and countertransference.” With that premise, psychologist Jonathan Shedler walks through the practical realities of working with transference in psychotherapy—not as a theoretical concept, but as something that unfolds moment by moment in the room. The conversation, drawn from a psychodynamic cohort training session, covers when and how to address transference, how the work changes across levels of personality organization, and what to do with the therapist’s own emotional responses.
When to Address the Transference
Shedler reframes the question entirely: we are always addressing the transference, because it is always present. The real question is how to make constructive use of it. He distinguishes between two kinds of transference work. The first is essential from the very first session: any negative reaction the patient has early on must be made explicit. If a patient feels criticized, the therapist should name it directly—“You felt like I was criticizing you”—to keep the treatment from being derailed before it starts.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:13) **Introduction and Frame for the Discussion** - Host David introduces Jonathan Shedler and sets up the focus on practical, moment-to-moment clinical decisions around transference.
- 2 (02:07) **Transference is Always Present; The Question is How to Use It** - Shedler reframes the question from "when to address transference" to "how to make constructive use of it."
- 3 (04:55) **Early Treatment: Prioritizing the Negative Transference** - From the very first meeting, unaddressed negative transference can derail a treatment before it starts.
- 4 (07:15) **The "Big Guns": Making Genetic Transference Interpretations** - The most powerful interpretations link patterns across past relationships, current relationships, and the therapy relationship.
- 5 (10:07) **Adjusting Technique for Borderline Functioning** - For patients in the borderline range, genetic interpretations (linking to the past) are often too destabilizing; the focus must stay on the here-and-now.
- 6 (14:02) **The Process Takes Precedent Over Content** - The master clinician's defining skill is the ability to shift attention from the patient's story to what is happening interpersonally in the room.
- 7 (17:18) **Handling Erotic Transference** - Erotic transference is treated like any other transference, provided the therapist is "rock solid" on the therapy frame.
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Show Notes
In this practical Q&A episode with Dr. Jonathan Shedler, the psychodynamic psychotherapy cohort explores working with transference in real time, focusing on timing, technique, and the here-and-now. Shedler addresses how to recognize meaningful transference patterns, decide when an interpretation will open growth versus overwhelm the patient, and adapt the work across levels of personality organization (neurotic versus borderline). The discussion covers handling negative and erotic transference, protecting the therapeutic frame, triangulation, idealization and splitting, devaluation, projection, and projective identification. Clinicians will also learn to use their own countertransference as essential clinical data, the ongoing value of consultation and supervision, and how to respond to chronic reassurance-seeking without colluding.
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