Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Countertransference”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

On receiving the patient's transference: the symbolizing and desymbolizing countertransference.

This is an empirical study of the therapist's experience of the patient delineating the boundaries between empathy and constructive and destructive forms of countertransference. The unique step was taken of focusing a video camera on the therapist in order to trace the therapist's nonverbal behavior during listening. The same therapist was observed first in a "not-so-difficult" and then a "difficult" session; the sessions could then be distinguished along dimensions of rhythmicity or arrhythmicity of nonverbal behavior. These observations suggested three modes of experiencing the patient: empathy marked by rhythmicity, a symbolizing countertransference marked by a transitory arrhythmicity, and a desymbolizing countertransference marked by continuous arrhythmicity. The congruence of these formulations based on direct observation of therapist behavior and ones derived from retrospective reconstructions of analysts in sessions (Schwaber, Jacobs, and Laskey) was explored and was found to enhance the validity of the proposed formulations.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1998

Countertransference disclosure and the conceptualization of analytic technique.

Most discussions of countertransference disclosure have focused on points of impasse. Here, I will discuss countertransference disclosure in which the analyst attempts to make explicit to the patient how the analyst experiences something during an analytic session that differs from the way the patient experiences the same moment. The analyst presents his observation as something for the patient and analyst to work on together, with the aim of arriving at further understanding. In a clinical example, I suggest a way of comparing uses of countertransference that relate to other approaches in analytic technique. Since the analyst's disclosure evokes questions regarding asymmetry and anonymity in the analytic process, I will briefly elaborate these dimensions.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1998

[Countertransference in psychoanalytic therapy of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorders].

Understanding countertransference in dynamic therapy of children and adolescents is important for the clarification of unconscious conflicts because of the frequent absence of dreams and free association in the analytic process. When compulsions determine the course of the psychic disorder countertransference becomes an important landmark for comprehending and resolving the affect-loaded sadomasochistic collusion as an externalization of intrapsychic conflicts. Compulsive acts and thoughts helping to preserve seriously threatened structures of the self and the ego engender different countertransference reactions in the analyst than the ego-superego-conflicts of compulsion neurosis. This makes them essential for diagnosis and therapeutic interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Anti-Semitism in the clinical setting: transference and countertransference dimensions.

Despite the salient presence of Jews in the history of psychoanalysis, literature on the subject of anti-Semitism in the clinical setting is surprisingly sparse. This paper attempts to comprehend the reasons for the dearth of literature on this important topic. A clinical section then breaks the silence surrounding expressions of anti-Semitism in the consulting room. The major focus is on transference and countertransference reactions that arise with regard to anti-Semitism in the clinical setting. Since the first section is concerned with silence in the psychoanalytic community, its focus is primarily on countertransference issues that may hinder the analyst's understanding and use of anti-Semitic material. The second, clinical section focuses on the ways both transference and countertransference reactions combine and influence one another and how they may, when properly attended to, serve as catalytic tools for advancing therapeutic goals.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Counteridentification, comprehensive countertransference, and therapeutic action: toward resolving the intrapsychic-interactional dichotomy.

Two dichotomous trends in thinking about countertransference and therapeutic action can be delineated historically as well as in clinical practice: the intrapsychic and the interactional. The author proposes a new usage of the concepts of counteridentification and comprehensive countertransference to help transform these dichotomizing tendencies into more useful, integrative therapeutic action across the broad spectrum of psychoanalytic treatment for patients from the neurotic to the most severely disturbed.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Rational and irrational aspects of countertransference.

Countertransference in therapy stems from biological tendencies and social learning influences that involve mild or heavy prejudiced thinking, feeling, and behaving. Several reasons are given why it is almost inevitable and has both beneficial and destructive aspects-not either/or but both/and. It is hypothesized that therapists can well make good use of countertransference if they strive to employ it in a preferential, experimental rather than an absolutist musturbating manner.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Narcotic addiction and family process: death wish or countertransference.

This article critically examines the literature which suggests that families of narcotic addicts push their addicted member toward death. Following an overview of the conventional literature on the family treatment of drug addiction, an alternative perspective is proposed to more fully understand how these families are preoccupied with death. The "suicide-like" quality of addiction is probed both in terms of the intention to die and the countertransference possibilities. The notion of a family "death wish" has the potential to be misinterpreted by the countertransference response of an unseasoned treatment provider. Clinicians are cautioned that this notion can be a potential threat to the patient's life. Implications are presented for the supervision of the family treatment of narcotic addiction.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1991

Dilemmas and countertransference considerations in group psychotherapy with adult children of alcoholics.

This article will explore special leader issues that emerge in psychodynamically oriented therapy groups with adult children of alcoholics. Particular focus will be on countertransference feelings that get stirred up in group leaders and techniques for dealing with some of these special dilemmas. Specific issues include (a) assumption of sameness between the therapist and the patient (the therapist assuming that he or she "understands" because of having also grown up in an alcoholic family); (b) the "will to restore," which may be destructive when the therapist, whose own self-esteem is dependent on the patient's progress in therapy, forces a "rush to recovery" on the patient; (c) other personal issues in the life of the therapist that may also resonate with experiences of the patient; (d) "countertransference goodness and availability" as it affects therapists' abilities to set reasonable limits on their patients, as well as reasonable expectations for themselves; and (e) special issues regarding therapist transparency and self-disclosure.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Countertransference issues in group psychotherapy with HIV-positive and AIDS patients.

Mental health professionals are increasingly aware of the special difficulties encountered by therapists working with HIV-positive and AIDS patients. In this report, countertransference issues experienced by therapists leading a psychotherapy group for heterosexual, drug-using HIV-positive and AIDS patients in an inner city hospital are explored. Countertransference is discussed under the headings of helplessness, death anxiety, and anger.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1995

Group supervision: focus on countertransference.

This paper examines the advantages of a particular way of supervising psychotherapy, namely, in a group setting with a special focus on the supervisee's countertransference experience. Group supervision is conceptualized as much more than presenting a case and getting feedback. Rather, the group is used in all its interactive complexity as it resonates in a myriad of ways to aspects of the case being presented. Furthermore, because of the complexity of conscious and unconscious interactions and reverberations during this process, it is often helpful to have a focus in the supervision. One helpful possibility is to center on the supervisee's countertransference experience and use the group to reflect, amplify, and process that experience. This can be a highly valuable way of helping the therapists increase their understanding of the case and enhance the quality of therapeutic interventions.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1986

Countertransference and its implementation in the treatment of a Hispanic adolescent boy.

The literature on the psychotherapeutic treatment of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Americans primarily focuses on unique cultural characteristics that may affect the initial transference reaction. Cultural values and beliefs related to authoritarianism (Muñoz 1981), dependency (Bluestone and Vela 1982), espiritismo (Comas-Diaz 1981), etc., have been identified as important in shaping initial expectations and attitudes toward psychotherapy. Therapists have been advised to become familiar with and sensitive to such characteristics and their manifestations and to be honest with themselves and patients about their prejudices (Sue et al. 1981). Otherwise countertransference is not discussed in depth. The following case presentation of an intellectually gifted Puerto Rican boy, Regalado, will illustrate some of the countertransference problems, such as overidentification, class differences, and unresolved conflicts about minority group membership, which have been identified as disruptive to the therapeutic process (Griffith 1977). It is generally agreed that one must be more active in the treatment of minorities or poor people. Maduro (1982) recommends that in working with Latinos, dream analysis be consistently related to sociocultural issues and that the healthy or creative aspects of the unconscious be emphasized. He also recommends a warm and personal attitude and active participation in communicating and interacting with the patient.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

The evolutionary and developmental origins of patient-induced countertransference.

The concept of patient-induced countertransference is important is in a number of contemporary schools of psychoanalysis. This phenomenon is a product of emotional induction, the primary form of communication among prehuman animals, and the channel of communication used between infants and adults prior to the acquisition of language. Emotional induction is interwoven with all areas of human emotional communication even after the acquisition of language. It is often tied to the repetition compulsion. In the analytic setting it stimulates the analyst's experience of the patient-induced countertransference, and is an integral part of all stages of the psychoanalytic process.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

The patient's contribution to the therapist's countertransference feelings.

Countertransference feelings of psychiatric milieu therapists toward their patients were studied by using a self-report feeling word checklist. The feelings were scored on subscales of feeling states in a circumplex model. By using an analysis of variance model, comparisons between reactions to patients individually and reactions to patients with different personality organizations and with different Health-sickness rating scale scores could be made. A total number of 244 therapists at 21 small treatment homes were studied. It was found that approximately 15% of the therapists' countertransference feeling reactions could be accounted for by recurrent reactions to patients individually. Surprisingly, the personality organization and the Health-sickness rating scale score of the patient accounted for almost no variance in therapists' feelings. The results are discussed, and possible explanations are evaluated.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1982

Types of countertransference identified by Q-analysis.

It is suggested that the term countertransference is the name of a family of emotional responses experienced by psychotherapists during their personal interaction with a patient. Although such responses have a very special importance in the psychotherapeutic relationship, similar phenomena occur in all relationships. In this study, therefore, the feelings that each of the nurses on a psychiatric ward experienced during their conversations with 10 of the patients on that ward were investigated. With the help of the new mathematical technique of Q-analysis it was possible to identify a number of different types of response within a nurse's total reaction to a patient. These were called the role response, the diagnostic response, the character response and the conflict response. It is argued that it is more useful to try and identify and describe the different kinds of response that a therapist may have to a patient than to argue about what can and what cannot be legitimately called countertransference.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Termination initiated by the therapist: a countertransference storm.

Termination of psychotherapy has been infrequently examined in the literature and often ignored by many training programs. Not only are criteria and techniques for termination not often discussed, but termination as a therapeutic opportunity has been neglected. The authors present two cases of psychotherapy termination initiated by the therapist and point out that countertransference phenomena, potentially destructive, are the major aspect separating psychotherapy termination by mutual agreement and termination initiated by the therapist. Careful, regular, and attentive supervision for therapists in training is essential to counterbalance the intensified countertransference reactions involved.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Institutional countertransference.

The authors present the case of a patient with an institutional transference and point out the existence of institutional countertransference, which confounded his therapy and obscured his potential for change. Confronted with the patient's tradition in the institution, the new therapist had to overcome feelings of unimportance and therapeutic impotence to focus on the patient as a person in his own right. The authors discuss the signs of institutional countertransference and describe how it can seriously hinder clinical assessment of patients with institutional transferences.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1978

Staff countertransference to borderline patients on an inpatient unit.

Borderline patients evoke unique countertransference responses among members of the treatment team: pejorative behavior, undue optimism, and pessimistic nihilism to these patients, along with difficulties in limit-setting, and fragmentation of the treatment team are common. Frequent meetings and open communication within the treatment team are recommended in order to minimize the splitting that is central to these countertransference constellations.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1988

Countertransference and the obese patient.

Psychotherapy with obese patients requires management of the therapist's feelings about obesity. These feelings are multiply determined. Fostering an awareness of one's attitudes towards obesity, reviewing countertransference as a source of information about the patient, and using countertransference to formulate interventions may improve the therapeutic outcome with the obese patient.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗