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Therapists are expected to work therapeutically with increasing numbers of older adults due to the unprecedented global growth in older population. This work is considered emotionally challenging because it can evoke intense countertransference reactions in therapists. However, the field lacks empirically based practice recommendations on how to better identify and manage therapists' countertransference with older patients. This study explores therapists' experience of their countertransference in psychotherapy with older adults, using Hayes's (2004) structural model of countertransference as a guide. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 therapists and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. The findings are clustered around three themes: (a) unresolved conflicts related to therapists' own aging and death as well to their own parents are the sources of therapists' countertransference toward the older patient, (b) therapists' countertransference reactions are triggered inside therapy in response to the patients' health issues and the issue of death, and (c) countertransference is manifested as various affective and behavioral reactions to the older patient. Our findings indicate that therapists' unresolved issues related to the inevitable developmental phase of aging as well as to their own parents might be regarded as countertransference sources unique to psychotherapy with older adults. Our findings also demonstrate the wide range of emotional and behavioral countertransference manifestations in psychotherapy with older adults. Since effective management of countertransference is related to psychotherapy process and outcome, therapists should consider expanding their awareness of how countertransference origins are triggered and manifested in therapy with older adults, in order to engage in effective management strategies. Public Significance Statement: The present study suggests that therapists' unresolved issues related to their own aging and death as well as to their own parents are the sources of therapists' countertransference toward the older patient. These issues are then manifested inside therapy in response to certain triggers in the form of various emotional and behavioral reactions. These findings highlight the importance of being aware of unique countertransference issues when working with older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive countertransference is nontherapeutic, whereas responsive countertransference is an integral aspect of psychotherapy when the psychotherapist is attuned to the client's affect and needs. Personal examples are used to illustrate the concepts of responsive and reactive countertransference. Awareness and use of each form of countertransference is essential. The psychotherapist's stance of presence and involvement delineates the necessary elements of an effective relationally focused psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The negative effects of the unmanaged countertransference on session outcome are well documented, but little is known about the impact of countertransference reactions on the in-session elaboration processes. This study investigated the impact of countertransference reactions on the quality of client and counsellor's in-session work as revealed by their linguistic style, assuming that linguistic style shows the quality of speakers' referential process, i.e., their ability to translate into words and reorganize the client's emotional experiences. Methods: To test this hypothesis twenty-three in-training psychotherapists were asked to rate their emotional reactions through the Therapist Response Questionnaire at the end of the first three counselling sessions with one of their clients, for a total of 69 sessions. These sessions were recorded, transcribed, and evaluated by three external observers who applied the Countertransference Behavior Measure. Finally, the transcripts were analyzed by applying the computerized linguistic measures of the referential process. Results: We found that countertransference reactions were associated to clients' specific speech styles characterized by a lower referential process especially in the case of dominant, helpless, overwhelmed, and parental countertransference reactions. For the counsellors, we observed a linguistic style marked by emotional distancing. Conclusions: This study confirms that linguistic indicators can capture the impact of countertransference reactions, which shows to hinder the emotional elaboration in the counselling sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of the empathic mode for engaging and communicating with patients has become widely accepted by many psychoanalytic psychotherapists since Kohut's early formulations (Kohut, 1971; Atwood & Stolorow, 2014). However, diagnostic understanding based on ongoing empathic immersion with our patients is often complicated because it is continually being modified as we know them more deeply and as transference and countertransference factors influence our perceptions. To illustrate the complexity of diagnosis when it is grounded in ongoing empathic engagement with our patients, I describe in detail my treatment of an elderly woman who initially presented with severe and acute symptoms of psychological, cognitive, and physical impairment. As the treatment has progressed, my diagnostic understanding has been continually modified to include a combination of psychodynamic and organic factors including PTSD, intense unresolved grief, and extreme feelings of guilt and need for punishment. Adding further to this conundrum, I have been frequently challenged by my own responses to the fluctuations in her progress, especially to periods of hopefulness followed by periods of despair and regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the treatment of perpetrators of violence, psychodynamic discourse has often focused on individual aggression and other related emotions and mental phenomena, such as anger, rage, cruelty, sadism and brutality. Psychodynamic theory has been less explicit, however, about how to address an individual's actual violent acts within the psychotherapeutic setting. This article aims to address this gap. It illustrates how psychoanalytic theory – most notably through Winnicott, Fonagy and Glasser – can be used to inform thinking about, and interventions with, men who use violence against their children and partners, using a clinical case that describes psychotherapeutic work with a perpetrator of domestic violence. The article concludes that the psychotherapist's countertransference is an important tool in working with men who use violence, and highlights the importance of the therapist's capacity for impulse regulation, emotional understanding, and handling of his or her own aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a brief case study of the supportive psychotherapy provided for a patient who bore his illness and treatment with humour and irony. It also outlines the therapist's countertransference reactions during these therapy sessions. The second part of the article briefly discusses the definitions of countertransference, the peculiarities of countertransference in cases of patients with personality disorders, and the experience of countertransference while working with patients with borderline and narcissistic personality organisation. At the end of the article, there is a list of recommendations for psychotherapists who work with patients with personality disorders; this list can be especially helpful for new psychotherapists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychotherapist’s profession brings challenges in many areas. One of them is emotional capacity and capability to be in touch with client’s suffering. The concept of containment is related to psychotherapist’s capacity to stay present and process at the same time demanding countertransferences. Psychotherapist deals within psychotherapeutic relationship with similar processes as mother with her child. She accepts and processes with respect and acknowledgement the child’s experiences, what helps the child to create capability of reflection, self-regulation and functional boundaries. On the contrary, containment that is not reflected can negatively influence psychotherapist’s capacity to be present and available during the session. The aim of this contribution is to describe the concept of containment in relation to psychotherapist’s self-care from the perspective of selected psychotherapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores rescue fantasies in the experiences of therapists in their relationship with their clients and in their personal relationships. Twenty female therapists participated in a reading procedure aimed to prompt themes of rescue followed by a relationships anecdotes paradigm (RAP) interview in which they recounted relational narratives with their parents, their own children and their clients. Adapting the Core Conflictual Relationships Themes (CCRT) method, our analysis of rescue wishes in the relational narratives leads to the identification of two major types of therapists' propensities towards rescue awareness: rescuer and dialectic. These types are characterised by different dynamics of ongoing interpersonal conflicts involved in the strength and nature of rescue fantasies. The findings reveal the dominance of rescue themes in therapists' interpersonal and professional experiences. Our illustration of the rescue types as revealed by the narratives highlights the significance of therapists' awareness of their own rescue dynamics and its implications for training and supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This exploratory study locates countertransference as a pan-theoretical concept, comprising of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors expressed or experienced by therapists toward their patients. It aims to understand the patterns of countertransference experienced in working with borderline personality disorder. Associations between countertransference reactions and therapist-related variables of experience and mentalization ability are also examined. Method: Psychotherapists (n = 117) completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire to assess patterns of countertransference experienced with a representative patient diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. They also completed a measure of mentalization ability that examined self-related mentalization, other-related mentalization, and motivation to mentalize. Results: The profile of responses across eight countertransference dimensions is discussed, with the most strongly endorsed reactions being positive/satisfying, parental/protective, and helpless/inadequate. More experienced therapists reported less negative countertransference reactions in select dimensions. Therapists' self-reported ability to reflect on and understand their own mental states was negatively correlated with a range of difficult countertransference experiences. There were few associations between their ability to make sense of others' mental states, the motivation to mentalize, and the strength of their countertransference reactions. Conclusion: The implications for countertransference management as well as therapist training and development are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The therapeutic process is largely dependent on the psychotherapist. The therapist's view on the process, however, is a difficult task to unfold, given the complexity of the concept. As a result, one can only describe the therapist's view on different components of the therapeutic process. Objectives: To explore the therapeutic process from the therapists' perspectives: therapeutic alliance; the perception on the client and on himself during therapy; the psychotherapist's theoretical orientation. To devise a personality profile for the therapists in the present sample and to explore the correlation between these different variables. Methods: The participants in the study are psychotherapists accredited in Romania (N=137), with various theoretical orientations, who filled in the following instruments: The Helping Alliance Questionnaire HAq2, The Big Five Inventory (BFI), Theoretical evaluation Self-Test, The therapeutic process from the therapist perspective. The sample was composed of psychotherapists officially accredited, from the Register of Psychologists in Romania. The inclusion criteria were represented by the existence of an official accreditation and the specialization (psychotherapy). Results: The results show that therapists had the highest scores on the following BFI scales: Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The therapeutic alliance varies depending on the theoretical orientation, but the source of this variability cannot be identified in this study. Therapeutic alliance is also correlated with the perception on having results at the end of the therapeutic process. When it comes to the personality factor of Neuroticism, it seems that it varies proportionately with negative countertransference, and the Openness factor correlates with the Humanistic theoretical orientation. Conclusions: Through this study one can observe in which manner psychotherapists develop an image of the psychotherapeutic process and of themselves in this setting. This image is shown to be a cumulus of various elements of the psychotherapist as a person/ professional and different psychotherapy elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues of countertransference and personal insecurities are bound to affect therapeutic and supervisory relationships. As a Puerto Rican, white-skinned man, I experienced this in my most recent clinical work. I encountered countertransference issues concerning power and privilege and the intersectionality of my identities with those of my clients. It is very common for countertransference to occur in a parallel process in the supervisory relationship, which is how I came to recognize my challenges with certain clients. This parallel process helped me discuss my insecurities and shame with my supervisor. Interpersonal supervision enabled me to feel more comfortable in working through these types of countertransference. Interpersonal supervision facilitates an authentic, honest supervisory relationship and a postcolonial approach to supervision. This empowered me to have difficult conversations with my supervisor and gain more awareness of how and why I engaged interpersonally with my clients while also helping me to gain therapy skills, ultimately making me a more effective therapist--in particular, a more effective interpersonal therapist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working therapeutically with people who experience psychosis can be demanding, confusing and even terrifying for psychotherapists, yet there is very little research that has systematically investigated the experiences of psychotherapists concerning their engagement with psychotic phenomena. Theoretically, it has been proposed that managing countertransferential responses to a patient's psychosis is a crucial component of working psychoanalytically with such conditions. In light of this theoretical premise, the study reported upon in this article investigated some of the negative countertransferential dynamics observed by psychotherapists who engage in clinical work with patients presenting with psychotic states or conditions. Focused semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists. Two core themes emerging from the study are discussed: firstly, the psychotherapist's experience of madness; and secondly, the role of the body and somatic communication. The themes convey important aspects of countertransferential experiences related to the therapeutic encounter with psychosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The components of a tripartite model of the therapeutic relationship, namely the working alliance, the transference configuration (transference and counter-transference), and real relationship, were examined in terms of how they relate to one another and to the outcome of a psychotherapy session, from the therapists' perspective. Although previous studies have examined these components separately, no study to date has examined the components together in their relation to session outcome. Licensed psychotherapists (n = 249) were recruited from two Divisions of the American Psychological Association. Therapists completed measures for the last session they had with a client. Results revealed that from the therapist's perspective the real relationship and working alliance related positively to session outcome, and countertransference behavior related negatively to session outcome. The components related to each other mostly as predicted by the tripartite model, and a principal-axis factor analysis revealed the presence of four distinct factors resembling the components theorized to comprise the tripartite model. The components together accounted for 27% of the variance in session outcome and only the real relationship and the working alliance predicted session outcome when all the components were looked at simultaneously in a regression model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is evidence that awareness of countertransference (CT) in combination with a conceptualization of CT facilitates its management. This study examines the impact of a trans-theoretical training designed to make the construct of CT accessible to trainee therapists in programs oriented towards cognitive-behavioral therapy. The training aimed to enhance trainees' awareness, understanding, and management of CT. Method: Academics at five New Zealand universities introduced the training into their curriculum. Five academics and 54 clinical psychology trainees evaluated it, responding to open-ended questions on the impact of the training on awareness, understanding, and management of CT. They also rated the training's effectiveness. Results: The majority of trainees reported increased awareness and conceptualization of CT. They rated the training as useful for professional practice and reported increased commitment to monitoring CT. Academics also observed trainees' increased awareness and understanding of CT and openness to discussing it. Trainees and academics were less confident in trainees' abilities to manage CT in clinical practice, although trainees reported gains in this area. Conclusions: The training appeared to enhance awareness and conceptualization of CT, processes that support its management. However, future research into training models needs to examine the impact on CT management in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a construct, the elaboration of countertransference experience (ECE) is intended to depict the implicit and explicit psychological work to which therapists submit their experiences with clients. Through ECE, defined as a mentalizing process of a particular kind, therapists' experiences are presumed to acquire and increase in mental quality and become available for meaning‐making and judicious clinical use. In this paper, we claim that such an ongoing process facilitates engagement with common therapeutic factors, such as the therapeutic alliance and countertransference management, enhancing therapist responsiveness in psychotherapy. We synthesize relevant literature on countertransference, mentalization, and, in particular, therapists' mentalization, informed by a systematic literature review. As a result, we propose a model for assessing ECE in psychotherapy, comprising 6 diversely mentalized countertransference positions (factual‐concrete, abstract‐rational, projective‐impulsive, argumentative, contemplative‐mindful, and mentalizing), 2 underlying primary dimensions (experiencing, reflective elaboration), and 5 complementary dimensions of elaboration. Strengths and limitations of the model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some of the ways in which sexuality can intrude into the psychotherapeutic relationship and present both opportunities and risks to our work with adolescents. It highlights some of the complexities of this area of the clinical encounter, exploring the particular difficulties encountered by both patient and therapist when sexuality emerges in the transference and countertransference. While we are well aware of the centrality of sexual development during adolescence, far less has been written about the way in which sexuality and the erotic transference emerges and impacts on both patient and therapist. Given the profoundly unsettling nature of this area of work and its capacity to disrupt our thinking and psychic equilibrium, it is easy to underestimate how much we are drawn to avoid, negate and defend ourselves against registering such experiences. Through the discussion of clinical material with two adolescent patients, this paper explores some of these dynamics, addressing some of the technical dilemmas that frequently challenge us in this area of work. These include questions about whether and when it is therapeutically important and effective to take up and interpret the emergence of sexuality more directly in the transference and some of the risks to our patients when we ‘play safe’ and fail to do so. Most importantly, this paper aims to facilitate further thinking and discussion about an important but uncomfortable and easily neglected area of our work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Exploration of the patient-therapist relationship (transference work) is considered a core active ingredient in dynamic psychotherapy. However, there are contradictory findings as for whom and under what circumstances these interventions are beneficial. This study investigates long-term effects of transference work in the context of patients' quality of object relations (QOR) and therapists' self-reported disengaged feelings. Therapists' disengaged feelings may negatively influence the therapeutic process, especially while working explicitly with the transference since discussing feelings that are present in the session is an essential aspect of transference work. One hundred outpatients seeking psychotherapy for depression, anxiety and personality disorders were randomly assigned to one year of dynamic psychotherapy with transference work or to the same type and duration of treatment, but without transference work. Patients' QOR-lifelong pattern was evaluated before treatment and therapists' feelings were assessed using the Feeling Word Checklist-58 after each session. Outcome was measured with self-reports and interviews at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, post-treatment, one year and three years after treatment termination. A significant interaction of treatment group (transference work versus no transference work) by QOR by disengaged therapist feelings was present, indicating that disengaged feelings, even small amounts, were associated with negative long-term effects of transference work, depending on QOR Scale scores. The strengths of the negative association increased significantly with lower levels of QOR. The negative association between even a small increase in disengaged therapist feelings and long-term effects of transference interpretation was substantial for patients with poor QOR, but small among patients with good QOR. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Therapists' emotional reactions to their patients (countertransference) seem to have a significant impact on both the treatment process and outcome of psychotherapy., Therapists' heightened level of disengaged feelings over a treatment period shows an adverse impact on the effect of transference work for all patients, and especially so for patients with a history of poor, non-mutual and complicated relationships., For patients with a history of reciprocal, sound relationships the negative influence of therapists' disengaged countertransference is minimal., Higher therapist disengagement is strongly related to inferior therapists' skill for patients with a history of poor relationships and/or more personality disorder pathology., Training and supervision should provide direct feedback and focus on therapists' internal thought processes and emotional reactions., Therapists need to recognize and understand their feelings and attitudes in order to use the countertransference as a tool to understand the interpersonal process in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The primary aim of this study was to investigate a psychotherapist's countertransference experience of gender mobility in response to a patient using projective identification to maintain a rigidly defended sexual identity. A secondary aim was to explore the utility of autoethnography as a psychotherapy research method, with a specific focus on understanding the complexities of countertransference experience. Method: The therapist's experience of gender mobility in response to the deployment and withdrawal of a female patient's projective identification is systematically tracked using thick description of session vignettes and autoethnographic self‐analysis. Findings: Autoethnography provides a viable form of practice‐led qualitative research, particularly useful in exploring countertransference experience. The contribution of the therapist's historical subjectivity and cultural positioning undercuts the asocial depiction of projective identification as largely the patient's creation. The therapist's own gender‐related conflicts are activated and contribute to the patient's projective evacuation of gendered self‐representations. The gendered complexity of the psychotherapeutic interaction defines not only defended identity, but also the therapeutic reclamation of projected self aspects in the course of treatment. Both patient and therapist experience an enlarged repertoire of sex and gender possibilities as a result of successful psychotherapy. Implications for practice: Gender mobility in the countertransference experience requires considerable self‐analysis in order to determine the therapist's unconscious contribution to the projective identification process. Awareness of the social context informing the therapist's gender construction can assist in facilitating countertransference understanding. Therapists’ openness to their gendered multiplicity is critical in aiding patients who manifest some form of gender or sexual orientation conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An NHS Mental Health Trust Medical Psychotherapy Consultation Service using psychoanalytic psychiatry to help the patient and professional is described. The Consultation Service established in 2000 is offered to secondary acute and community mental health teams and primary care. The service was evaluated as a basis for regional and national development. Between 2006 and 2013, 87 consultations from 210 were sampled to ascertain demographic and diagnostic profiles and outcomes of the consultation process. We conducted an online survey of local consultant psychiatrists' views about the service, and undertook a thematic analysis of the free text comments. We also conducted a survey of members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Medical Psychotherapy Faculty to ascertain whether similar consultation services existed elsewhere in the UK and had been evaluated. The Leeds model of psychoanalytic consultation – a 'consultation sandwich' – is described. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the work of consultation is seen as an extension of the dynamic field of the analytic situation. This paper develops the concept of a bastion – an omnipotent reserve in and between the patient and professional derived from adhesive identifications leading to stuck relationships. The adhesive identification in the patient and professional acts like a 'grievance glue' – a mutual manifestation in a last bastion of painful limitations not faced, losses not grieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study explores the experiential process of psychotherapists during a session with a currently depressive client. Method: Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 30 therapists and the grounded theory method was used as a methodological framework. Results: The therapists' experience was conceptualized as Experiential oscillation between getting closer to a client's depressive experience and moving away from it. Its development over the course of a session is depicted by a six-phase Depression Co-experiencing Trajectory model. Conclusions: The resultant theory interconnects different therapists' emotional responses to a depressive client within a coherent process model, which allows us to track the changes in therapists' experiences, to name the relations between them, and to connect them with the therapy's in-session microprocesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Difficulties with containing or processing emotions brought up in the countertransference response have long been understood as having the potential to cause a rupture in the therapeutic relationship, often with damaging results for the client. As increasing numbers of psychotherapists are becoming interested in mindfulness meditation, and as evidence is building to suggest that mindfulness meditation is an effective way of relating to one's thoughts and emotions in a non-judgemental and non-reactive fashion, the effect this may be having on the processing of countertransference material seems a worthy area of investigation. Method This study explores the countertransference experiences of five psychotherapists who practised mindfulness meditation, using semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using a grounded theory methodology. Results A tentative conceptual understanding of the data was developed, indicating that therapists who practised mindfulness meditation were relating to countertransferential responses with an observing stance, a compassionately curious attitude and a holding of emotion, which brings them into the present moment, resulting in the experience of a deeper therapeutic relationship. Discussion The implications for training and practice are discussed, through the potential of practising mindfulness to cultivate a therapeutic attitude towards countertransference responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on therapy outcome routinely finds that common factors (e.g., warmth, genuineness, trustworthiness) account for more variance than does therapy technique. This article makes the case for more attention to training in positive common factor variables within graduate schools and internships and for research on the effectiveness of such training. Recommendations are given for a change in focus in research and training, including more discussion of taboo topics in trauma therapy; attention to therapist behaviors that enhance the experience of warmth or trustworthiness; and research on client characteristics that impede the experience of being in the presence of a warm, genuine, and trustworthy other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this article was to explore the effects of the therapist's disengaged feelings (i.e., bored, tired of, sleepy, indifferent, aloof) in psychodynamic therapy. The Transference Work Scale was used in combination with the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales and Structural Analyses of Social Behavior to explore the in-session process in 2 therapies with female patients with interpersonal problems. Analyses showed differences in in-session processes (i.e., defense mechanisms; transference work; degree of affiliation and interdependence in the dialogue) and treatment outcome between therapies characterized by a low versus a higher degree of disengaged feelings. Compared to the case with the engaged therapist, the disengaged therapist showed poorer interaction and less response to transference and defense interpretation. When aware of their disengaged feelings, therapists are advised to encourage their patients to discuss the patient-therapist interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper will explore the impact of the current economic crisis on the work of psychologists and psychotherapists, who work within the context of private practice. Whilst people's needs for psychological therapies seem to increase, a significant number of clients may no longer be able to bear the cost of private therapy. At the same time, a substantial number of therapists may be confronted with real problems of viability of their private practice. Psychologists and psychotherapists practicing in times of financial crisis face significant professional and ethical issues, which may pose marked challenges on therapeutic relationship, process and outcome. Money carries both a real and a symbolic meaning. Personai fears, anxieties, as well as issues of self-worth, dependency, anger and guilt related to psychotherapy fees may arise and manifest within the therapeutic dyad, particularly so through processes of transference and countertransference. However discussion of financial matters seems to remain a 'taboo' subject within the gulfs of psychotherapy. This new economic reality brings therapists up against new and unfamiliar financial and professional issues, which they are called to manage, in order to preserve the viability of their practice, the ethical conduct of their profession and ultimately client growth and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countertransference is a central construct in the clinical literature (Freud, 1910; Gabbard, 2001), yet it has generated very little research to date. The present study used the CCRT method (Luborsky & Crits- Cristoph, 1998) to measure countertransference themes in a sample of 12 therapists, who described relationship episodes with their parents and with two clients. Results showed high repetitiveness of the parent themes in the narratives about the patients for all three components of the CCRT: Wish, Response of Other and Response of Self. A qualitative analysis of the narratives generated four countertransference dynamics: Repeating the parent RO, repairing the parent RO, identification with the patient, and withdrawing. It is suggested that these four dynamics constitute the process which links the origins and triggers with the manifestations and effects in Hayes's (2004) operational model of countertranference. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Clinical reaction related to client socioeconomic status has not been adequately researched, yet socioeconomic status can profoundly affect psychotherapist perceptions of a client's presenting concerns, symptom severity, and prognosis. Using an online national survey, this study examined the influence of client socioeconomic status on psychotherapist cognitive attributions and countertransference reactions (N = 141). Results revealed no significant differences in cognitive attributions based on socioeconomic status. However, significantly stronger countertransference reactions of being dominated by the client with a higher socioeconomic status were found. In addition, the clients with higher socioeconomic status were ascribed with mild problems compared with the client of lower socioeconomic status. Psychotherapeutic implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question posed in this article is how the therapist should deal with strong emotions she might experience in the session. This question is especially important if it concerns emotions that -at least on the surfacecannot be considered to contribute to a therapeutic alliance. We offer some reflections as preliminary steps towards answering this question and propose that therapists be sensitive to their own experiencing during the session, be careful to monitor the implicit invitations to join the family members in potentially destructive relational scenarios, reflect on the possible negative and perpetuating effects of her interactions with the family, and explore opportunities to proceed with the session in new and more constructive ways. In our approach the therapist's experiencing is seen as a tool that may be used to further the therapeutic process. This is consonant with the view of family therapists exploring the importance for the therapist of holding open a space of reflection, while it also fits with a dialogical approach to family therapy, in which the therapist's task may be described as listening to the stories the clients tell, and making room for other stories that have not been told before. Two case discussions illustrate our ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach is presented that introduces the concept of countertransference to predoctoral interns and externs in a unique way during their professional training. This approach goes beyond a didactic presentation of the concept and even beyond discussion of case material in supervision. Through an experiential role-play process called Mimesis, trainees are encouraged to enact scenes from literature that depict typical dilemmas that psychotherapists working in a psychodynamic framework must face. By using carefully chosen stories, supervisors can highlight aspects of the therapeutic process such as managing countertransference feelings. This approach fosters a more flexible and open inquiry into one of the most daunting aspects of professional development for both trainees and supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sweeping revisions in the understanding of major mental illness brought about by the biological revolution in psychiatry moved the spotlight away from the treatment relationship. In recent years, however, a resurgence of interest in subjectivity underscored the fact that despite dramatic scientific breakthroughs the existential realities of illness were largely unaltered. Even with this shift in inquiry, however, little attention was shown to the inner experience of practitioners engaged in long-term therapeutic relationships where movement of any kind was barely detectable. Clinicians and clients alike frequently travel a long and difficult road in search of pathways to recovery. Tracing their shared journey through a detailed case presentation illuminates the interior worlds of both travelers and illustrates that neither is left untouched by the complexities of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the interpretation of transference and countertransference. According to the authors, interpretation of transference and the use of countertransference can be effective therapeutic tools for therapists and enable them and their clients to shed light on the relationship pattern and problems of their clients. Neurologist Sigmund Freud defined transferences as new editions of facsimiles of the impulses and fantasies which are stimulated and made conscious during the progress of analysis.

Much has been written about paranoid anxieties as these occur in the patient. Less, however, has been written about primitive experiences as these occur in the therapist during the session. This paper recounts a patient's correct articulation of the therapist's self-perception, which, because of its accuracy, initially flooded the therapist with shame and dread. Nonetheless, the patient's perception was able to be used in a way that clarified, in the countertransferance, a piece of the patient's early experience in relation to her mother and strengthened the therapeutic relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]