Understanding Countertransference

Seeking to mediate between the classical view of countertransference as a neurotic impediment to the treatment process and the more recent totalist perspective, which assumes that the therapist's emotional response necessarily reveals something about the patient, Tansey and Burke stake out a thoughtful middle ground. They submit that the therapist's utilization of adequately processed countertransference reactions is in fact integral to treatment success.

Key Features

• Explores the balance between classical and totalist views of countertransference.
• Highlights the importance of processed countertransference reactions in therapy.
• Challenges the assumption that a therapist's emotional response must be directly revelatory.

Additional Information

Tansey and Burke argue against the totalist assumption that the therapist's emotional response to the patient must be revelatory in a direct and immediate way.