Countertransference

Countertransference at a glance

Dear Supervisee,

At some point, there will be cases you may have an affinity to; perhaps you can relate to their experience or culture. In some situations, clinicians may be triggered by their clients' stories in some way that they end up essentially blurring some boundaries as they project their own emotions and or beliefs onto their clients. Countertransference can easily occur in any therapeutic case; after all, you are only human, right. Well, of course, this is something you want to avoid, as typically, this won't be appropriate nor effective in the therapeutic work.

Note, there is a difference between some appropriate self-disclosure and countertransference. Making some relevant, suitable suggestions based on some supportive reference for validity and reliability also if self disclose the purpose would be the clinician felt sharing would help the client feel safe and valid. There are mixed beliefs on the value and effectiveness of self-disclosure including the technique of borrowing feelings as some would argue that the clinician is separate from the client (Bowen and any modern model), but in more post-modern models especially collaborative and even experiential the clinician is a part of the system, process, and a changing agent though how they may go about that will differ accordingly.

According to Goodtherapy.org, "Signs of countertransference in therapy can include a variety of behaviors, including excessive self-disclosure on the part of the therapist or an inappropriate interest in irrelevant details from the life of the person in treatment. A therapist who acts on their feelings toward the person being treated or that person's situation or engages in behavior not appropriate to the treatment process may not be effectively managing countertransference."

If you have any questions write it below or contact me either at melissa@ensominds.com or at 888-995-3676.