Countertransference

Frank expressing his feelings and emotions is the transference. “Countertransference is a situation in which a therapist, during the course of therapy, develops positive or negative feelings toward the patient” (alleydog.com). Countertransference is the way a professional react to information a client provides. It is based on the personal emotions of the counselor. Counselors may have either a negative or positive feeling against a client.

Person-centred therapy came about through Roger’s theory on human personality. He argued that human experiences were valuable whether they were positive or negative so long as they maintained their self actualising tendency. Through one’s experiences and interactions with others Roger believed that a self-concept/regard was developed. Carl Rogers believed that a truly therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor depends on the existence, of three core conditions. The core conditions are important because they represent the key concepts and principles of person-centred therapy. These core conditions are referred to as congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. Congruence is when the therapist has the ability to be real and honest with the client. This also means that the therapist has to be aware of their own feelings by owning up to them and not hiding behind a professional role. For example, a therapist may say ‘I understand where you are coming from’’ to the client. However the therapist has expressed a confused facial expression while saying this. The clients can be become aware of this and may feel uncomfortable in expressing their feelings, which might impact their trust and openness towards the therapist. Therefore the major role of the therapist is to acknowledge their body language and what they say and if confusion happens the therapist needs to be able to

Transference is often manifested as an erotic attraction towards a therapist, but can be seen in many other forms such as rage, hatred, mistrust, prettification, extreme dependence, or even placing the therapist in a god-like or guru status. When Freud initially encountered transference in his therapy with clients, he felt it was an obstacle to treatment success. But what he learned was that the analysis of the transference was actually the work that needed to be done. The focus in psychodynamic psychotherapy is, in large part, the therapist and client recognizing the transference relationship and exploring what the meaning of the relationship is. Because the transference between patient and therapist happens on an unconscious level, psychodynamic therapists who are largely concerned with a patient's unconscious material use the transference to reveal unresolved conflicts patients have with figures from their childhoods. Countertransference is defined as redirection of a therapist's feelings toward a client, or more generally as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client. A therapist's atonement to his own countertransference is nearly as critical as his understanding of the transference. Not only does this help the therapist regulate his or her own emotions in the therapeutic relationship, but it also gives the therapist valuable insight into

However, counter-transference is caused by the counsellors own limitations which might include the counsellor unresolved emotional issues, but a counsellor can use this to their advantage and draw out information that is important to the clients therapeutic process.

While responding to the same statements as used in exercise 6.2, our group tried other types of responses. We each took turns being the therapist, client, and observer. We focused on reframing, siding with the negative, and shifting focus as these were a bit more difficult than agreement with a twist and personal choice. This exercise was a little easier because of the previous exercise 6.2. We worked on the statements independently and then read our responses out loud. We had to help each other at times come up with certain responses but it flowed better than the previous exercise. We learned that even though the client was making the same statement, our responses varied but were all relevant.

Rogers himself was aware of the criticism expressed about his theories by people who prefer other therapeutic approaches. He describes in Chapter 5 in his book ‘Client-Centred Therapy, three questions raised by other viewpoints’. One of the questions from therapists with a psycho-analytical orientation is how a Person-Centred therapist deals with “transference”, which is “the repetition by the client

Research has shown that a strong therapeutic alliance is necessary for establishing a beneficial contact between the therapist and the client. If the therapist does not encourage the creation of a reliable therapeutic alliance from the beginning of the treatment, it will be hard to develop a constructive relationship with the client later. Establishing the therapeutic alliance will increase the chances of achieving the goal of the treatment because the clients will be willing to cooperate if they trust and respect the therapist. Clients are not likely to cooperate with therapists who impose their authority aggressively. Instead of imposing their authority on the patient, therapists should develop work with their patients by

Over identify, desire to protect, rescue fantasies, competiveness with parents, and befriending are just a few of the counter-transference response and behaviors therapists have reported experiencing when counseling children and adolescents. Therapists who also work with abused women have also reported instances of counter-transference responses such as reluctance to explore abuse- related issues, identification with the victim or the abuser, vicarious

When it comes to conflict we always allowed each other to finish there opinion, and if it becomes escalated them the groups therapist will step in and try to dissolve the conflict. Example of this is one time during a group session one of the women came in already angary at the why someone treated her on the bus, during the group for most of the session she was pointing out others wrongs and just not being nice at all so the therapist asked her why she was so upset she told her story and after the therapist asked her how it made her feel when the person treated her like that she

Emerging from early relating patterns, people develop a number of 'working models' (Bowlby 1980) or schemas (Young et al. 2005) about themselves and others. In cognitive interpersonal therapy it is the emotional core of these schemas that it is crucial to understand. These arise from previous, direct emotional experiences and are key to the sense of one's core identity. When they are activated they give rise to direct emotional experiences within the self (Guidano and Liotti 1983) and may not be easily coded into language. This does not mean that core emotional schemas arise only before language, as some suggest (Young 2004); it can also be their direct emotional quality (as in trauma and shame) which is important.

‘Self concept’ or the way we view ourselves is highly relevant in person-centred therapy. Should there be a separation between actual experience, and the way our ‘self’ believes something should be incongruence is said to occur. McLeod (2008) describes this as, “Where there is a disjunction between feelings and the capacity for accurate awareness and symbolization of these feelings, a state of incongruence is said to exist. Incongruence is the very broad term used to describe the whole range of problems that clients bring to counselling” (p. 179).

As pointed by summer, eventually , the therapist choice of music as well as ( to add on summer) being an active listener, the musical space is an extension of the therapist herself (Summer, p. 403) In conclusion, it appears that in one hand, I could see how a client musical background can lead him or her more easily into “pure transference”, as opposed to clients with no musical background, who may need more time to trust it and therefor transference will projected more toward the client and further will tend to be split. On the other hand, I also recognize that transference cannot be predicted or controlled, regardless of our approach and aims toward the role of music. And as in this short case example, a split transference and working through it verbally was needed (and might be needed in future session) prior to the clients’ full engagement with the musical transference. That being said, as guides we need to be flexible to what is happening in the moment, and adapting the process to the needs of the client as they work through their barriers and conflicts. Also keeping in my, that “a transference reaction is not a ‘truth statement’ [but rather] a proposition for considering the possibilities of seeing it that way “ (pp 394-395). Therefore, deep listening is our primary tool as guides through which we can hear, see and feel what is the client

If the client feels “safe” in the session, this can be very powerful for them. As sessions occur, the client will feel more comfortable in trusting the clinician with their feelings, attitudes and emotions. The client is able to present their needs and problems in ways that only they can express. Another factor that may resonate in the sessions may include transference and counter-transference. Transference is when the client’s attitudes, feelings and emotional conflicts from past events begin to be directed to the therapist, while Countertransference is exactly the opposite, when the therapist’s attitudes, feelings, and emotional conflicts from the past are directed towards the client (Transference and Countertransference, 2011). There are not too many positive factors with Countertransference, except being able to recognize it, when it exists, and be able to work out any conflict. A client’s experiences can affect their feelings, emotions, and behaviors towards their therapist. If the therapist remains their professionalism, and sets the proper limits and boundaries, a client can work through past experiences that are affecting their functioning. In a lecture, it is the role of the counselor to recognize the client’s experience; reflect and process the client’s emotional state, as well as process their own emotional reactions to clients and their issues. When clients can work through their problems from past

Recognizing hazards in the workplace and setting clear boundaries initially and maintaining them throughout therapy will go a long ways in a therapist “keeping their sanity” intact. It is better to be proactive than reactive in this respect and dismiss the notion that “Boundary issues or countertransference issues won’t affect me.” “Those who understand the etiology and impact of these liabilities are most effective in minimizing their negative consequences, and thus more successfully “leave it at the office” at the end of a long workday” (Norcross & Guy, 2007, p. 36). I believe that all counselors will carry pieces of their clients with them at all times, but remaining aware of the risks and dangers associated with our specific occupation will allow counselors not to be affected as

In the therapy interaction, these misconceptions must be heard by the therapist and given ample time in counseling to talk about and “unpacked,” for further qualification. This may take time and patients to hear these feelings and to process with the client.