Baby Reindeer + Transference vs. Projection

Let me start by saying that I'm not a movie-person. I watch 99% feel-good, wholesome, think "The Office" or "Friends" series after work.

While I can and have listened to horrendous, shocking, gut-wrenching stories in my consulting room, I cannot watch or read horror storries.

According to Instagram, many young woman are into "true crime" - and in this case I can confidently say for once: I'm not like other girls.

And still, I watched "Baby Reindeer".

WTF. 

Please be warned that it's heavy.

The depiction of collusion in psychopathology, the sometimes complex subjective experience of abuse, and the traumatic shame involved is on a whole other level - definitely recommended for any other psychotherapists in training to understand more deeply.

I desperately need to find out if any of my supervisors have watched it because I need to talk through the psychodynamics and diagnosis of the characters.

❓Question of the week: What is the difference between transference and projection? I feel like I should know this by now but every couple of months I forget the difference between transference and projection. So I noted this down to remind me, maybe it's a helpful refresher for you as well:

Transference: We transfer an old object from a self-object-affect dyad onto a new object = We relive relational experiences. For example: We experience the therapist as we experienced our father.

Projection: We ascribe unwanted parts/affects of the self to an object = We eject emotional experiences. For example: We perceive the world out there as dangerous ("Everyone is out to get you!") to get rid of our own aggression.

💬 Quote of the week: "I consider inner life an object of inquiry that has its own unique dignity and peculiar lawfulness. A prominent characteristic of such a perspective is the belief that everything that goes on — thought, feeling attitude, action — has many layers of meaning. Nothing is simple and flat in inner reality: there are no cardboard figures, no one-to-one linear causalities. These deeper layers of significance, which seem of little weight in the bustle of daily life, are what hold the self together in its inmost continuity and essence, thus giving coherence to one's life history. The psychoanalyst is the ambassador of a neglected reality-our inner life." - Leon Wurmser