What is COUNTER-TRANSFER in PSYCHOLOGY

In therapeutic processes there are many phenomena that, at the unconscious level, influence and direct the conditioning process. If these phenomena are not adequately addressed, the therapy may not produce the desired effects on the patient. Countertransference is one of the effects that, among others, can divert the proper development of the therapeutic process.

In the following Psychology-Online article, we will talk about what is countertransference in psychology, comparing it with the more well-known transfer term, we will expose the effects it has on the therapeutic process and we will address the need to incorporate the therapist's own self-analysis as an essential process to achieve good results in their work psychotherapeutic.

Index

1. What is countertransference
2. Types of countertransference
3. Examples of countertransference
4. How to work the countertransference in the therapeutic process

To understand what countertransference is in psychology, we must first emphasize what it is.

Specifically, the transference refers to a psychological process, which usually occurs in all types of human relationships, through which a person relives affections or emotions from primary ties with different people in their current relationships. This process is unconscious in most cases and governs a good part of our behavior and interpersonal relationships.

Within the therapeutic process, the transference arises when the patient relives before the therapist primary relationships with people who left an important mark on their past. That is how the patient transfers lived relationships and affections onto the therapist previously with prominent figures for him, mainly his parents.

Meaning of countertransference

Countertransference in psychology is a phenomenon framed exclusively within the therapeutic approach, since it refers to the unconscious transference processes that the therapist himself emits about his patient. It could be said that its name is due to the fact that it is the opposite and expected process of the transference during the therapeutic process. In this case, it is the therapist who transfers his unconscious emotions onto the patient.

For Freud, both processes are inevitable insofar as they involve the unconscious manifestation of our repressed emotions. The difference between the two concepts lies in the fact that the transfer is used by the therapist as a useful tool within the therapeutic process to work these feelings with the patient. Countertransference, meanwhile, must necessarily be elaborated by the therapist himself through their own ongoing analysis to avoid negatively interfering with therapy.

Countertransference can have two main effects on the therapy process. Let's see what are the types of countertransference and their consequences:

• Unconscious countertransference: can interfere with the adequate progress of the patient in different ways. On the one hand, the interpretations that the therapist returns to the patient may be erroneous as they are not exactly related to the patient's reality. On the other hand, certain positive feelings beyond the therapeutic relationship can complicate the clinical relationship and the negative emotions towards the patient can worsen their current personal situation, etc.
• Conscious countertransference: There are two benefits mainly as a consequence of this process of personal introspection. In the first place, it avoids the negative effects that derive from the non-awareness of this countertransference process and redirects the process appropriately. In addition, he also grows personally as a result of this new step of personal knowledge and, consequently, improves his knowledge and experience as a psychotherapist.

Now that we have seen the consequences of countertransference on the therapeutic process, Next, we will present examples of countertransference with respect to the two named resolutions previously:

Unconscious countertransference

On the one hand, an example of unconscious countertransference could be when the therapist transfers feelings of rejection onto the patient. If when it happens he does not become aware of it and, unconsciously, his interpretations of the different situations that the patient exposes during therapy are fraught with certain degrees of contempt, rejection, opposition, etc.

Conscious countertransference

If we talk about examples of conscious countertransference, in this case, the therapist also transfers this feeling of rejection onto his patient, but he becomes aware of it and inquires inside about the meaning and origin of the same. After understanding your unconscious reaction to your patient, due to unconscious reactions of your own origin dating back to your own childhood, you choose to resolve this unfinished business and close it.

From here on, this aspect no longer arises in its process with the patient or, if it does arise, it is approached and conveniently rejected. In this way, the therapist listens and empathizes in a more pure and authentic way with the experience narrated by the patient.

As mentioned in the previous section, the countertransference processes they inevitably occur in any therapeutic process while psychotherapists, like other people, are conditioned by primary unconscious elements derived from their childhood experiences.

Given this, as shared by psychodynamic and humanistic therapies, it is essential incorporate the psychotherapist's self-analysis process as part of the therapy process if good results are to be achieved with the patients cared for.

Otherwise, and as exemplified in the previous section, the deficiencies and reactions themselves unconscious emotional emotions of the therapist will interfere with the correct and adequate development of the therapy. In this article, you will find more information about the incidence of the therapist's self in the therapeutic process.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is Countertransference in Psychology: Types and Examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• Castanedo Secadas, C. (2008). Six psychotherapeutic approaches. Modern manual. Mexico.