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Psychological

In the previous post, there was mention of how a patient could feel an unexplained attraction towards a doctor, and how I also felt that for a brief moment while overseas in Thailand. I also mentioned that I would try to explain that phenomenal condition. Even if you didn't read the previous post or have no interest in psychology whatsoever, no harm reading this up, it does give you some interesting insight into the human mind, how our deepest fantasies, desires, and hatred relate themselves through 'Transference'.


First, a little background.

Source: AllExperts.com
(Betty wrote at 2008-10-08 17:11:45)

"The phenomenon of patients falling in love with their caregivers is called Transference. Patients often mistake feelings of gratitude and relief with feelings of love."

Why the word 'Transference'? Remember that the root word for 'transference' is 'transfer', so apparently some sort of emotions were 'transferred'. In this case of a doctor-patient transference case, the feelings of gratitude were wrongly transferred in the form of love.

I'm saying all these also because I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who's felt the same thing. Which is just as well, because the source does state that:

"Apparently this is quite common. One usually hears about this in connection with patients and their psychologist/psychiatrist. However, professions where physical contact and professional touch are emphasized, such as chiropractic and physical therapy, one also sees the phenomenon."


All I've been babbling about till now may not make sense, but that's only because love only makes up a small segment of 'Transference'. The definition given earlier was something to the tune of "a feeling wrongly transferred to another being".

However, that's just my amateur derivation. If you want to do the long-time tradition, here's some info from Wikipedia:

-Transference was first recognised as an important psychological condition by Sigmund Freud.

-One definition given of 'Transference' is "a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, esp[ecially] of childhood, and the substitution of another person ... for the original object of the repressed impulses."

Sounds too complex? That's why I liked the definition given by The Source back in 2001 better, which describes it in layman terms.

"According to The Source published in June 2001, "During transference, people turn into a 'biological time machine.'" A nerve is struck when someone says or does something that reminds you of your past. This creates an "emotional time warp" that transfers your emotional past and your psychological needs into the present."


Relative Examples

Truth to be told, 'transference' is actually wildly common. When was the last time you laid judgment upon a person just because your mind feeds you something like, "I don't think we should trust this guy, his toothbrush-mustache makes him look like Hitler."?
Or, a more common example would be, "Oh, he looks like Zac Efron, isn't he cute?" (Personally, Hollywood actors are basically stigmatised in my mind, scandals and all...)

A stigma is attributed with transference too, in case you haven't realise.

Now on to the more interesting stories... We've heard our fair share of murders, I don't know about the rest of you, but murders that arise from psychological natures intrigues me the most. In fact, transference plays a huge role in the psychological blueprints of this type of murderers.

Wikipedia supplies one such example:
"as in the case of the serial killer Carroll Cole. While his father was away in World War II, Cole's mother engaged in several extramarital affairs, forcing Cole to watch. She later beat him to ensure that he would not alert his father. Cole would later come to murder many women whom he considered "loose," and those in general who reminded him of his mother."

Very, very carnal... But that's reality for you. A human mind can only tolerate that much...

If I were to come up with something which we can relate to, but on a smaller scale, that would be 'bullying'. Psychiatrists have done research and concluded that bullies can be classified into pure bullies, which are the confident aggressors, and the bully-victims, those that bully the weak only because they were trying to release the pent-up injustice they have suffered before.

Let's focus on the bully-victims, where we can apply a new theory of transference called AMT (Abusive Multiple Transference), this is the case where victims not only receive the negative emotional impact inflicted upon them, but also the power and dominance of their abusers.

This is especially true for a bully-victim, once bullied in the past, he feels the power and the ability to hurt in being a bully. Which would later lead him to seek out more victims in order to satisfy his own misfired psychological system. Although it sounds cruel and sickly, I do empathise with such victims, fated to be a receiver of abuse, doomed to repeat it all over again.


Now, this may sound like a psychology lesson, but the fact is that many of us can benefit from a little knowledge about human nature so that we can be a little less of the 'human scum' we are sometimes. ^_~
To tell you the truth, I see psychology as more of empathy rather than academics.