My reasoning started from the actual phenomenon of transference, as it is defined by psychology. That it is defined as feelings projected ("transferred") onto the therapist but the process has origin elsewhere. I meant that if their origin (however obscure) is older, then working on it with a new T would probably eventually get back to the original source. If they are interested, willing and have the skills to do so, that is.

The experience I had with it in ordinary life was that I had a strong and repetitive tendency to "fall in love" with teachers, mentors and the like. People that I accepted and admired as authority as a source of learning and wisdom. I don't easily accept just anyone as authority because they are placed in a position like that relative to me, but when I do, it's usually because they possess some sort of knowledge, life experience, skills or just traits that I desire to have in myself. The idea here is that it's not the actual person or persons in front of me that I desire and want to be one with in fact, but their qualities. And my mind creates this pattern of longing for and wanting to merge with these qualities via loving the person that I perceive possessing them (often projected) and being loved by them. I fell for these idealized figures in my youth quite a few times and was unable to distinguish what I am describing from genuine sexual or romantic interest. Took a few trials and errors and actually experiencing what I apparently longed for in a few ways with different people, to come to these realizations this clearly as I did not have a therapist to guide me. They were, of course, father figures for me but when I was young I tended to confuse paternal figures and a desire for experience and wisdom with romantic love or even sexual interest.

This is how I needed to get back to the origin and become stably aware of the whole mechanism in order to not repeat it more in that form and to have the transference dissolved. Wish I had someone to help me in a more unbiased way! I now have a good therapist and one thing I want to discuss with him (have not gotten into it yet) is the fact that at this point of my life I find myself on the opposite end (ET) very often when I supervise or manage people. I want to learn how to deal with it best from my position now to hopefully help these people have an easier and more straightforward understanding. I think what I am describing are typical and textbook transference reactions that have benefited and will hopefully benefit more in the future from thorough analysis of their origins in my own personality.

I would definitely ask potential therapists if they are willing to work on this issue with you if that's a main goal, before committing. When I chose mine, his self-confessed interest (obvious online and from his publications) in transference and countertransference was a main factor behind my choice, I did not even need to ask. I still have issues (other than what I was talking about) that can probably addressed this way, I think.