With transference, the therapist encourages the client's feelings and expectations by engaging him/or her in the therapy process, allowing the client to cast the therapist in a role suited to that client's needs.

Countertransference occurs when the therapist's needs become entangled with those of the client; Freudians warn that when a therapist actively likes or dislikes a client, countertransference is a likely cause.

Analysis of transference is central to psychoanalysis because it allows clients to relive their past in therapy.