mirror transference

in self psychology, a narcissistic transference technique in which patients’ grandiose selves are reactivated as a replica of the early phase of their lives when their mothers established or undermined their sense of perfection by admiring or devaluing their exhibitionistic behavior. This “reactivation process” aims to help the patient develop healthy self-esteem. Compare idealizing transference; twinship transference. [first described by Austrian-born U.S. psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut (1913–1981)]

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Psychology term of the day

March 14th 2025

frigidity

n. in women, impairment of sexual desire or inability to achieve sexual arousal or orgasm. This term is considered offensive and has largely been abandoned in favor of female sexual dysfunction. —frigid adj.