LAUSR

Countertransference (CT) is a ubiquitous phenomenon: therapists walk into the consulting room, bringing with them their unique ways of relating to others, their vulnerabilities, emotions, sense of humor, creativity and much more. In a paper summarizing the 3rd APA task force on evidence based relationships and responsiveness, Norcross and Lambert (2018) write: “Most practice or treatment guideline compilations depict interchangeable providers performing treatment procedures. This stands in marked contrast to the clinician’s and the client’s experience of psychotherapy as an intensely interpersonal and deeply emotional experience”. They further add: “Multiple and converging sources of evidence indicate that the person of the psychotherapist is inextricably intertwined with the outcome of psychotherapy” (p. 307). Countertransference was first identified by Freud (1910), as the therapist’s unconscious response to the transference: “In such cases, the client represents for the analyst an object of the past on to whom past feelings and wishes are projected”. It was viewed as a hindrance to effective therapy process, since it disrupted the clear, scientific observation of the client. This view, the “narrow view” of countertransference became widely accepted in psychoanalytic circles. As psychoanalytic theory shifted towards a twoperson model, the conceptualization of countertransference has expanded and is currently viewed as a product of a joint creation, with contributions from both client and therapist. Countertransference is based on the therapist’s past relationships, but also induced by the client’s behavior (Gabbard, 2004). Support for the two-person model comes from research that applies findings from mother-infant studies to psychotherapy process (e.g., Beebe & Lachmann, 2020). For example, the Boston Change Process Study Group (2013) views enactments, which consist of transference and countertransference, as a product of the dyad, rather than reflecting the level of the individual participants. Thus, therapists will experience different feelings and thoughts which are stimulated by different clients, in different contexts. The challenge is to use these feelings effectively, not to ignore them or suppress them, but not to be immersed in them. Gabbard (2004) describes different ways in which therapists can use their countertransference productively: they can contain negative countertransference, thus demonstrating to their clients that they are neither “destroyed” nor driven to retaliate by these emotions. This stance can then help clients deal with their own aggressive feelings. Countertransference feelings can also provide clues about clients’ emotional states, which may serve to guide therapists’ interventions. One type of intervention is the judicious use of therapist self -disclosure of the countertransference, which may deepen clients’ understanding of their interactional patterns. Although it originated in psychoanalysis, countertransference is currently considered an important component of therapy in many therapy models.