Transference

Any Good Poem

Richard Berlin, MD, shares his poem, "Transference." Transference is a phenomenon in which a person directs feelings or desires related to an important figure in one’s life—such as a parent—toward someone who is not that person. This poem is about Berlin's own experience with transference in his first session with a psychotherapy patient. The poem reading is released on May 16, Berlin's father’s birthday.

Dr Berlin has been writing a poem about his experience of being a doctor every month for the past 27 years in Psychiatric Times in a column called “Poetry of the Times.” He is an instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.