Countertransference
Encyclopedia
Countertransference
is defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client—or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.
The potential danger of the analyst's countertransference - 'In such cases the patient represents for the analyst an object of the past on to whom past feelings and wishes are projected' - became widely accepted in psychodynamic circles, both within and without the psychoanalytic mainstream. Thus, for example, Jung
warned against 'cases of counter-transference when the analyst really cannot let go of the patient...both fall into the same dark hole of unconsciousness'. Similarly Eric Berne
stressed that 'Countertransference means that not only does the analyst play a role in the patient's script, but she plays a part in his...the result is the "chaotic situation" which analysts speak of'. Again, Lacan
acknowledged of the analyst's 'countertransference...if he is re-animated the game will proceed without anyone knowing who is leading'.
In this sense, the term includes unconscious
reactions to a patient that are determined by the psychoanalyst's own life history and unconscious content; it was later expanded to include unconscious hostile and/or erotic feelings toward a patient that interfere with objectivity and limit the therapist's effectiveness. For example, a therapist might have a strong desire for a client to get all 'A's' in university because the client reminds her of her children at that stage in life, and the anxieties that the therapist experienced during that time. Even in its most benign form, such an attitude could lead at best to 'a "countertransference cure"...achieved through compliance and a "false self" suppression of the patient's more difficult feelings'.
Another example would be a therapist who didn't receive enough attention from her father perceiving her client as being too distant and resenting him for it. In essence, this describes the transference
of the treater to the patient, which is referred to as the “narrow perspective.”
: 'it is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal'. Heinrich Racker emphasised the threat that 'the repression of countertransference...is prolonged in the mythology of the analytic situation'. Paula Heimann highlighted how the 'analyst's countertransference is not only part and parcel of the analytic relationship, but it is the patient's creation, it is part of the patient's personality'. As a result, 'counter-transference was thus reversed from being an interference to becoming a potential source of vital confirmation'. The change of fortune 'was highly controversial. Melanie Klein disapproved on the grounds that poorly analyzed psycho-analysts could excuse their own emotional difficulties' thereby; but among her younger followers 'the trend within the Kleinian group was to take seriously the new view of counter-transference' - Hanna Segal
warning in typically pragmatic fashion however that 'Countertransference can be the best of servants but is the most awful of masters'.
The contemporary understanding of countertransference is thus generally to regard countertransference as a “jointly created” phenomenon between the treater and the patient. The patient pressures the treater through transference
into playing a role congruent with the patient’s internal world. However, the specific dimensions of that role are colored by treater’s own personality. Countertransference can be a therapeutic tool when examined by the treater to sort out who is doing what, and the meaning behind those interpersonal
roles (The differentiation of the object’s
interpersonal world between self and other). Nothing in the new understanding alters of course the need for continuing awareness of the dangers in the narrow perspective - of 'serious risks of unresolved countertransference difficulties being acted out within what is meant to be a therapeutic relationship'; but 'from that point on, transference and counter-transference were looked upon as an inseparable couple..."total situation"'.
use countertransference much more than transference − another interesting shift in perspective over the years'. One explanation of the latter point might be that because 'in object relations therapy...the relationship is so central, "countertransference" reactions are considered key in helping the therapist to understand the transference', something appearing in 'the post-Kleinian perspective...[as] Indivisible transferencecountertransference '.
Perhaps the extreme development of the new view is 'what is known as "counter-transference self-disclosure": the analyst reveals...to the patient what he or she is feeling, so as to highlight the difference between the analyst's experience and that of the patient...In [one] opinion, this implies an entirely different view of what communication between patient and analyst is all about' - the classical late-20th century view being that it is 'not a matter of confessing to the countertransference but of recognising it and integrating it into the interpretation'.
is defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client—or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.
Early formulations
The phenomenon was first defined by Sigmund Freud in 1910 in "The Future Prospects of Psycho-Analytic Therapy" as "a result of the patient's influence on [the physician's] unconscious feelings," but the topic was left to others to develop, as he rarely referred to it himself. When he did, it was almost invariably in terms of a 'warning against any countertransference lying in wait' for the analyst: 'every psychoanalyst...must recognize this countertransference in himself and master it'.The potential danger of the analyst's countertransference - 'In such cases the patient represents for the analyst an object of the past on to whom past feelings and wishes are projected' - became widely accepted in psychodynamic circles, both within and without the psychoanalytic mainstream. Thus, for example, Jung
Jung
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology.Jung may also refer to:* Jung * JUNG, Java Universal Network/Graph Framework-See also:...
warned against 'cases of counter-transference when the analyst really cannot let go of the patient...both fall into the same dark hole of unconsciousness'. Similarly Eric Berne
Eric Berne
Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist best known as the creator of transactional analysis and the author of Games People Play.-Background and education:...
stressed that 'Countertransference means that not only does the analyst play a role in the patient's script, but she plays a part in his...the result is the "chaotic situation" which analysts speak of'. Again, Lacan
Lacan
Lacan is surname of:* Jacques Lacan , French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist** The Seminars of Jacques Lacan** From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power, a book on political philosophy by Saul Newman** Lacan at the Scene* Judith Miller, née Lacan...
acknowledged of the analyst's 'countertransference...if he is re-animated the game will proceed without anyone knowing who is leading'.
In this sense, the term includes unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
reactions to a patient that are determined by the psychoanalyst's own life history and unconscious content; it was later expanded to include unconscious hostile and/or erotic feelings toward a patient that interfere with objectivity and limit the therapist's effectiveness. For example, a therapist might have a strong desire for a client to get all 'A's' in university because the client reminds her of her children at that stage in life, and the anxieties that the therapist experienced during that time. Even in its most benign form, such an attitude could lead at best to 'a "countertransference cure"...achieved through compliance and a "false self" suppression of the patient's more difficult feelings'.
Another example would be a therapist who didn't receive enough attention from her father perceiving her client as being too distant and resenting him for it. In essence, this describes the transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
of the treater to the patient, which is referred to as the “narrow perspective.”
The middle years
As the 20th century progressed, however, other, more positive views of countertransference began to emerge, approaching a definition of countertransference as the entire body of feelings that the therapist has toward the patient. Jung explored the importance of the therapist's reaction to the patient through the image of the wounded physicianWounded healer
Wounded healer is an archetypal dynamic that psychologist Carl Jung used to describe a phenomenon that may take place in the relationship between analyst and analysand: 'Jung...warned of its dangers as well as its necessity'....
: 'it is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal'. Heinrich Racker emphasised the threat that 'the repression of countertransference...is prolonged in the mythology of the analytic situation'. Paula Heimann highlighted how the 'analyst's countertransference is not only part and parcel of the analytic relationship, but it is the patient's creation, it is part of the patient's personality'. As a result, 'counter-transference was thus reversed from being an interference to becoming a potential source of vital confirmation'. The change of fortune 'was highly controversial. Melanie Klein disapproved on the grounds that poorly analyzed psycho-analysts could excuse their own emotional difficulties' thereby; but among her younger followers 'the trend within the Kleinian group was to take seriously the new view of counter-transference' - Hanna Segal
Hanna Segal
Hanna Segal was a British psychoanalyst and a follower of Melanie Klein. She was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and vice-president of the International Psychoanalytical Association...
warning in typically pragmatic fashion however that 'Countertransference can be the best of servants but is the most awful of masters'.
The late twentieth century paradigm
By the last third of the century, a growing consensus appeared on the importance of 'a distinction between "personal countertransference" (which has to do with the therapist) and "diagnostic response" - that indicates something about the patient...diagnostic countertransference'. A new belief had come into being that 'countertransference can be of such enormous clinical usefulness....You have to distinguish between what your reactions to the patient are telling you about his psychology and what they are merely expressing about your own'. Awareness of the distinction between ' neurotic countertransference - which...Fordham calls illusory countertransference - the personal countertransference or narrow perspective - '[and] countertransference proper ' had come (despite a wide range of terminological variation) to transcend individual schools. The main exception is that for 'most psychoanalysts who follow Lacan's teaching...counter-transference is not simply one form of resistance, it is the ultimate resistance of the analyst'.The contemporary understanding of countertransference is thus generally to regard countertransference as a “jointly created” phenomenon between the treater and the patient. The patient pressures the treater through transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
into playing a role congruent with the patient’s internal world. However, the specific dimensions of that role are colored by treater’s own personality. Countertransference can be a therapeutic tool when examined by the treater to sort out who is doing what, and the meaning behind those interpersonal
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
roles (The differentiation of the object’s
Object relations theory
Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
interpersonal world between self and other). Nothing in the new understanding alters of course the need for continuing awareness of the dangers in the narrow perspective - of 'serious risks of unresolved countertransference difficulties being acted out within what is meant to be a therapeutic relationship'; but 'from that point on, transference and counter-transference were looked upon as an inseparable couple..."total situation"'.
Twenty-first century developments
Further developments in the current century might be said to be the increased recognition that 'Most countertransference reactions are a blend of the two aspects', personal and diagnostic, which require careful disentanglement in their interaction; and the possibility that nowadays psychodynamic counsellorsPsychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. In this way, it is similar to psychoanalysis. It also relies on the interpersonal relationship between client...
use countertransference much more than transference − another interesting shift in perspective over the years'. One explanation of the latter point might be that because 'in object relations therapy...the relationship is so central, "countertransference" reactions are considered key in helping the therapist to understand the transference', something appearing in 'the post-Kleinian perspective...[as] Indivisible transferencecountertransference '.
Perhaps the extreme development of the new view is 'what is known as "counter-transference self-disclosure": the analyst reveals...to the patient what he or she is feeling, so as to highlight the difference between the analyst's experience and that of the patient...In [one] opinion, this implies an entirely different view of what communication between patient and analyst is all about' - the classical late-20th century view being that it is 'not a matter of confessing to the countertransference but of recognising it and integrating it into the interpretation'.
Body-centred countertransference
Irish psychologists at NUI Galway and University College Dublin have recently begun to measure body-centred countertransference in female trauma therapists using their recently developed 'Egan and Carr Body Centred Countertransference Scale', a sixteen symptom measure. High levels of body-centred countertransference has since been found in both Irish female trauma therapists and clinical psychologists. This phenomenon is also known as 'somatic countertransference' or 'embodied countertransference' and links to mirror neurons and automatic somatic empathy for others due to the actions of these neurons have been hypothesised.See also
- TransferenceTransferenceTransference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
- PsychoanalysisPsychoanalysisPsychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
- Psychodynamic psychotherapyPsychodynamic psychotherapyPsychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. In this way, it is similar to psychoanalysis. It also relies on the interpersonal relationship between client...
- PsychotherapyPsychotherapyPsychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
- Projective IdentificationProjective identificationProjective Identification is 'a term first used by Melanie Klein to describe a process whereby parts of the ego are thought of as forced into another person who is then expected to become identified with whatever has been projected'....
- Therapeutic relationshipTherapeutic relationshipThe therapeutic relationship, also called the helping alliance, the therapeutic alliance, and the working alliance, refers to the relationship between a healthcare professional and a client...
- Body-centred countertransferenceBody-centred countertransferenceBody-centred countertransference or 'somatic countertransference refers to feelings that a psychological practitioner has about a client. Referring to the psychologists sensation in the gut, changes to breathing, to heart rate and to tension in muscles'....