TRANSGENERATIONAL CONFLICTS BETWEEN SISTERS

The first half of this paper reconsiders the therapeutic work with a patient who had a troubled relationship with her older sister (Coles 1998). In particular I explore the conflictual sibling transference and the countertransference anxieties I faced. In the second half of the paper I speculate about transgenerational conflicts between sisters and suggest that the patient's conflict with her sister, and her sense of lost identity when her sister died, may be linked to her mother's relationship with an older sister. I draw on literary sources which also illustrate the impact of sibling relationships.