Neurosis in Childhood and in Psychoanalysis: A Developmental Reformulation

It is widely believed that the transference neurosis, understood as both a repetition of the infantile neurosis, and as an opportunity for new forms of object relations, is the hallmark of psychoanalysis. Because the concept has become caught up in such polemics over the years and has acquired such a variety of meanings, some call for its abandonment; some also call for abandoning the concept of the infantile neurosis. This paper argues that both these concepts refer to significant clinical phenomena and so rather than being abandoned, they should be clarified and redefined in the light of contemporary developmental theory.