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Regressive Transferences—A Manifestation of Primitive Personality Organization

Patients with primitive personalities form regressive transferences that tend to be unstable, repetitive, preverbal, and ungratifying. Pertinent transference examples are: primitive libidinal transference, automatism, and somatization. They present as primal reenactments that can become formidable resistances to the development of a therapeutic alliance or meaningful interpretation.

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