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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Speaker on November 25, 2003, at 20:52:12
Would someone give me a scenario of what countertransference would look like. The comment I heard was a T. had stopped therapy with a patient due to her own countertransferance. Thanks
Posted by Karen_kay on November 25, 2003, at 21:29:45
In reply to Countertransference Question, posted by Speaker on November 25, 2003, at 20:52:12
It is much like a transference reaction that a client has towards a therapist.
Countertransference. This is the highly specific situation in which the therapist forms an emotional reaction to the affect expressed by the patient; it is different from affective resonance in that the reaction of the therapist usually turns out to be analogous to the way a significant past figure (mother, sibling, father, etc.) had reacted to the patient in the past. If the therapist reacts from his/her own background, this is another form of transference (it devolves from the therapist's real self). Countertransference, therefore, is an affective counter to the transference being experienced by the patient, and can provide excellent data about the interpersonal situation of the patient back in the days when the (archaic) transference was formed.This should explain it more clearly. It happens all the time. My therapist and I fight all the time. I mean we bicker back and forth! I can't help but wonder if it has a lot to do with both transference and countertranference.
I think what happened in the case you are talking about is that possibly (?) countertransference was so strong that the therapist couldn't get a handle on it and it was getting in the way of helping the client. Maybe the client reminded the therapist of a relative? Or a former lover? Just a possibility.
Posted by Dinah on November 26, 2003, at 2:43:34
In reply to Countertransference Question, posted by Speaker on November 25, 2003, at 20:52:12
And more generally, countertransference is used to describe a therapist's feelings about a client in general. So the therapist in question couldn't get enough distance from her feelings about her client to be able to help the client effectively.
I'm guessing it happens unfortunately often, and not enough therapists are honest enough with themselves to terminate, instead taking their feelings out inappropriately on the client overtly or covertly. The client should probably consider him/herself lucky.
Posted by Speaker on November 26, 2003, at 8:40:24
In reply to Re: Countertransference Question » Speaker, posted by Dinah on November 26, 2003, at 2:43:34
Posted by fallsfall on November 26, 2003, at 17:42:04
In reply to Countertransference Question, posted by Speaker on November 25, 2003, at 20:52:12
My therapist admitted to a bit of countertransference this week.
I was terrified that he was going to abandon me in the future if I did some specific thing. So I told him about my fear - and he correctly interpreted that I wanted to be reassured that he wouldn't abandon me. But, he had a really hard time with that. He told me that he felt I was coercing him into saying something that he didn't want to say. He said that there were too many variables, so he couldn't generalize and say what he would do if a patient did that specific thing. He did end up giving me enough reassurance that I stopped being terrified.
Over the next week, though, I started feeling really badly about "coercing" him. I don't want him to say things he doesn't believe or things that aren't true. I don't want to force him to do anything. I don't want to make him feel badly (I think that people feel badly if they are coerced). So I got all upset thinking that he was mad at me because I coerced him.
2 sessions later ('cause I didn't understand it at the next session yet) I told him that I didn't mean to coerce him - that I was just telling him how I felt and what my needs were. I didn't want him to feel badly. He said that there was probably some countertransference there - that his professional self doesn't like to be told what to do, but his PERSONAL self REALLY doesn't like being told what to do. He decided that "coerced" was too strong a word, and he apologized for using it. So, basically, he let his personal feelings take over his professional judgement. That is countertransference.
I would say that your friend was terminated because the therapist couldn't remain objective and professional because of individual issues that the therapist had. It is definately the therapist's problem - your friend did nothing wrong.
Posted by Speaker on November 26, 2003, at 20:29:31
In reply to Re: Countertransference Question » Speaker, posted by fallsfall on November 26, 2003, at 17:42:04
This is the end of the thread.
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