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Transference is the unconscious process by which a patient redirects feelings, expectations, and relational patterns from past significant relationships onto the analyst. In Jungian work, it is not a complication to be managed — it is the primary vehicle of change.
Jung observed that when an analyst sits with a patient, there are not one but two people in therapy. The patient is doing the work of their analysis. The analyst is doing something too — feelings arise, thoughts emerge uninvited, reactions occur that have no obvious explanation in what was just said.
There is a common expectation about a first therapy session that is worth correcting before you arrive.
It is not the moment when the therapist sits down, looks at you carefully, and begins to explain you to yourself. It is not an immediate plunge into the deepest and most painful material. It is not a revelation.