Governing love: On the tactical control of countertransference in the psychoanalytic community

This paper interrogates the problematics of 'love' as they relate to psychoanalysis. We have restricted our investigation to psychoanalytic texts which address the 'theory of practice' as the ideal to which practice aspires. 'Love' in psychoanalysis acts as a focus for practices of incitement and regulation. The psychoanalytic setting and method incites (transference) 'love' in the patient and (countertransference) 'love' in the analyst, feelings which are then subjected to a variety of governmental procedures so as to transform abnormal 'love' into a healthier 'love'. The power relations and modes of government in this strategic process are analysed. It is our contention that psychoanalytic community treats 'love' as a contagion from which it has attempted to immunize itself through the tactical control of countertransference. Therapy, seen in this way, is precisely a form of government of self and other.