Countertransference in psychotherapy

In a broad sense, countertransference should be understood as the therapist's unwillingness to accept something new about himself that he became aware of at the time of therapy. Countertransference strongly influences the process and result of psychotherapeutic work, most often negatively.

The emergence of powerful counter-forces forces the therapist to be hostile to his client. This hostility is most often hidden and manifests itself in incorrect assessments, erroneous actions and feelings of hostility.

If a psychotherapist is prone to countertransference reactions, he will experience serious difficulties in achieving positive therapy results, primarily for the patient. Countertransference is most often found in the work of novice therapists, and therefore there is a need for supervisory assistance. This assistance is to help the therapist understand their own countertransference reactions, identify the cause of their occurrence in specific situations, and learn how to manage countertransference reactions during therapy.

Signs of countertransference
- difficulties in understanding the material that relates to the therapist's personal problems;
- severe sensations after a therapy session;
- lateness, missing sessions and other negligence in relation to agreements with the patient;
- the occurrence of neurotic affects towards the patient;
- excessive emancipation or, conversely, clenching;
- giving importance to a specific patient;
- the desire to communicate with the patient outside of the sessions;
- dreams involving the patient.

Consequences of countertransference
Of the most serious consequences that countertransference can lead to, it is necessary to highlight:
- violation or distortion of the therapist's perception of the patient's unconscious processes;
- the therapist's inability to perceive what is happening, a violation of his ability to interpret.

Thus, countertransference can affect the therapist's manner of communication with the patient, his voice, gestures and the form of interpretations. Often the patient expresses dissatisfaction with the therapist's attitude towards him. It should be understood that patients may perceive countertransference reactions from the therapist. Here we can recall Arlow, who said that the patient examines the therapist in exactly the same way as the patient's therapist. Thus, it becomes quite obvious that for successful psychotherapy, awareness and understanding of the therapist's countertransference reactions is extremely important.

The nature of countertransference is determined by the personality of the therapist, his past experience and various characteristics of the patient, in particular, psychological and physical. The famous psychotherapist Reker interprets countertransference as an Oedipus complex, but this issue remains controversial. There is also a point of view that countertransference reactions occur due to a violation of the therapist's ego functions. One way or another, the causes of countertransference will be different in each individual case, and this must be taken into account.

What should a therapist do?
An experienced psychotherapist differs from a novice, first of all, in that he never experiences countertransference reactions, while a novice therapist almost always has them. It is for this reason that a beginner must first undergo comprehensive personal psychotherapy before starting work, as well as receive regular supervision.

If the therapist finds himself experiencing countertransference reactions, he must compensate for them through conscious decision and control. To do this, it is important to learn how to accept your own countertransferences and not feel ashamed or guilty about their appearance. If a therapist does not learn to see the psychological truth about himself, he will never be able to properly respond to the needs and requests of patients. In this regard, it is important to constantly study your countertransferences, their structure, conduct continuous introspection and try to control the processes that may affect the process and outcome of psychotherapy.

In conclusion, we emphasize once again that awareness of the presence of countertransference is an essential condition for successful psychotherapy. If these reactions are not analyzed, they will become a barrier to understanding the patient and interpreting his unconscious. В Королёве поклонники спорта предпочитают melbet скачать и использовать его на нескольких устройствах одновременно. Поддержка сервиса работает по номеру 8 (800) 505-10-12.