(Post 6)

Countertransference

Transference is our patients mapping onto us, their unresolved feelings toward their significant others. Countertransference is our feelings toward our patients. There are two types of Countertransference: Objective Countertransference, and Subjective Countertransference.

Objective Countertransference is the feelings the patient induces in us, which comes from the patient’s transference. It gives us valuable insight as to the type of transference the patient is mapping onto us. These feelings help us to better understand the patient’s feelings, as well as whom we are in their transference.

When the Countertransference is Objective, we would feel how the patient is feeling in the session, and after the session is over, we’re able to move on to the next activity without the feelings we experienced in the session “lingering on.” Also, the patient would induce the same feelings in most anyone else. This shows what we are feeling are coming from the patient.

For Example:

Right after the terrorists’ attack at the World Trade Towers, I was in a session with a patient who was lying on the couch. She mentioned that she knew one of the stewardesses from the plane that went down in PA. She reported it without much affect and moved on to talk about her life. However, as soon as she mentioned that she knew one of the stewardesses, my heart felt a sharp pang, like it was breaking. I asked myself why I was feeling such strong feelings since I didn’t know the stewardess, and my patient wasn’t demonstrating any feelings of sadness? Twenty minutes after my patient’s sharing, she was in a fetus position, sobbing. I realized then, that the heart pain I was feeling was actually my patient’s feelings, being induced in me.

Subjective Countertransference is the feelings we as the therapist have personally, that the patient “triggers” in us. These feelings stem from our own unresolved issues, and it’s about us, not about the patient.

For Example:

When I worked in my first job as a social worker, I was unable to work effectively with depressed clients. These clients reminded me too much of a family member of mine, who was depressed, would complain about every ailment, but wouldn’t do anything to ameliorate her condition. Since I had just started my own analysis at that time and hadn’t worked through my own reactions to this family member, my personal allergic reaction toward this family member prevented me from being able to separate these clients from this family member. Thus, I emotionally reacted toward these clients the same way I reacted toward my family member. This prevented me from being able to be objective, empathic, or effective in my work with depressed clients.

Treatment Suggestion:

When we notice Subjective Countertransference at work, it would be helpful to identify whom our patient is reminding us of personally. Once we identify it, we say to ourselves: “This patient is this patient, and So and So is So and So. So and So is not this patient, and this patient is not So and So.” Just by bringing to the conscious our feelings, these Subjective Countertransference feelings naturally dissipate and lose their grip on us.

Most of the time though, when Subjective Countertransference is at work, there is also a component that is coming from Objective Countertransference. Therefore, it behooves us to examine all of our feelings in the session and constantly ask ourselves: “Am I feeling what the patient is feeling about herself, and/or is there a part of my personal feelings?” Or, “Why am I feeling what I am feeling? Is it coming from myself, or coming from the patient?”

 

*For an in-depth reading on Transference and Countertransference, please feel free to read this article: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uy1fio7x1y7x7cl/Transference%20and%20Countertransference.doc