Transference in psychotherapy occurs when the client displaces feelings for others onto the therapist. Which option best describes this phenomenon?

• A. Client displaces feelings for others onto therapist
• B. Therapist displaces feelings for others onto client
• C. The client’s symptoms are transferred from another patient
• D. A form of dream interpretation

Answer: (A)

Transference occurs when the client unconsciously redirects feelings and attitudes from important people in their life onto the therapist, using the therapist as a stand-in for those relationships. This is why the description “the client displaces feelings for others onto the therapist” is the best fit. The therapist’s own reactions toward the client would be countertransference, not the client’s displacement. The idea of symptoms transferred from another patient isn’t how transference operates, and dream interpretation is a different therapeutic concept altogether.