Transference and Transcendence: Ernest Becker’s Contribution to Psychotherapy

Based on an expanded view of transference dynamics in which human beings seek to draw power for living from external objects, Becker’s work posits that people have this kind of relationship to God as well. His ideas concur with the Psalmist’s: the human heart longs for completion in a true and living God. Tempering though Becker’s work is, this study suggest that we may find certain “intimations of transcendence” in counseling. Whereas there is in the human heart that panic disguised as reason whos ultimat manifestation is in a “denial of death,” Becker’s work, as well as that of Yalom, lifton, and Kubler-Ross, suggests that it might be possible to incorporate death awarenessas an ally in living.