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TRANSFERANCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE

Transference, develops in a situation where the therapist is a superior, authoritative

figure, and the client is made to feel inferior and childlike. A dependence of the client on the

therapist naturally results. A threatening and insecure situation fosters regression and leads to

defensiveness (resistance), which encourages projection and misperception of the actual

situation.

Transference can and does develop to some extent in many client-centered therapy

experiences, however. It will be remembered that transference is a function of the client and the

situation. To the extent that client-centered therapy is ambiguous, transference may and does

develop. Clients may be more or less "ready" to develop a transference relationship. This

readiness is perhaps related to the nature and severity of their maladjustment or disturbance.

Example: Sigmund Freud while he was using the technique of hypnosis with his patients. A female patient, upon awakening from ther hypnotic trance, threw her arms around him for which he mention it as a false conception.

Transference and countertransference can be positive or negative, and be beneficial or harmful to the relationship. For example, your brown eyes may remind me of my mother who was warm and kind to me, and that may make me more empathic or compassionate towards you. Or your distant attitude may remind me of my father, and I may think that you do not like me, and I may in turn shy away from you, and thereby show less empathy. These old patterns arise in the current relationship though they are reflections from the past.

Example: Ellen, a child psychologist, worked in a neighborhood agency. She had lost her mother when she was three years old. Her father subsequently married a woman with two daughters. Ellen never felt treated fairly by her stepmother. As a result, she was particularly anxious about her child clients who had stepparents. As much of her caseload involved children of divorce, her anxiety was persistent and gradually increased to uncontainable levels. During a much-needed leave of absence, she sought therapy for herself. She became aware that unresolved issues from her own childhood were infringing on her ability to effectively help her young clients. Becoming aware of the consequences and how they affected her was inadequate to enable her return to work. However, sticking with her own therapy proved to be important. Once she resolved the issues that were provoked by her clients, she was better able to help them without suffering along with them.