Transference and Countertransference with David Freeman, MD

This workshop highlights the value of psychodynamic concepts of transference and counter-transference in all therapeutic encounters. Dr. Freeman draws from his rich clinical material to demonstrate that clients’ projections onto the therapist are central in understanding other key relationships in their lives. Moreover, Dr. Freeman describes how by exploring our own emotional responses to clients, we are not only better able to regulate our emotions in the relationship, but also to gain insight into what clients may be trying to elicit in us through unconscious motivations, desires or fears.

David Freeman, Adjunct Professor in the UNC-CH Department of Psychiatry, is a psychoanalyst, and training analyst, with more than 50 years of experience working with adults and children, in a variety of outpatient clinics and in private practice. Dr. Freeman has been a catalyst in the psychoanalytic community, promoting collaboration among practitioners, and advocating for psychoanalytic education for students and the general public. He is a founding member and past president of the NC Psychoanalytic Society, NC Psychoanalytic Foundation, and NC Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is also past Director of the UNC-Duke Psychoanalytic Education Program, has served on the Board of the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood, and has revived and continues to spearhead the Psychoanalytic Consortium.