Post engagement and discussion participation guidelines

The author of this response will be addressing two major questions. The first will be three things that were learned from an article that was preselected for this assignment.  The second thing will be a real-world situation or example from the life of the author of this response. In both cases, the central topic will be the same as it is with the article just mentioned and that is the subject of transference and counter-transference. The real-world example can come from a book or movie but it has to be something that the author has seen and is aware of. While not everyone knows what transference or counter-transference is by name, they surely know that they have personally experienced or witnesses the phenomenon to some extent and in some way.

Just to get the definition out of the way, transference is when a person transfers feelings or memories from a prior situation to a current one based on the memories or emotions struck within the latter. Of course, this course of action is, as the article states, at least somewhat inappropriate because the situations are presumably independent. While there may be some concrete correlations between one situation and the next (and there is usually not), they are still two different relationships. On the other hand, countertransference is when a therapist has feelings evoked as a result of the transference projections of the client.

One thing the author learned is that there is indeed a real and defined modicum of concern about how therapists and how they cannot allow their failings and feelings to pollute or hinder the therapeutic process. Indeed, the article talks about how even psychitrists and therapists have their own therapy sessions with others as a means to keep themselves in check. Indeed, these people must be keenly aware of their own limitations and biases so that they can truly help people in need or perhaps defer to someone else if there is something that rubs the therapist the wrong way enough to preclude them from being of effective use to the patient. A second thing that was learned by the author is that supervised psychotherapy is a "thing." This can be useful as well. It might be concerning or off-putting to the client but there is more than one way where the person being treated can have their sessions with therapists or psychiatrists reviewed and studied so as to ensure that the proper boundaries are being maintained and kept where they should be. A third and final thing that was learned from this article is that not everyone who willingly enters a therapeutic relationship has the right motives in their head. Indeed, the article notes that some people seem to be out to prove that they perhaps need help but that no help exists for what ails them, mental or physical. This is not simply a matter, it would seem, of a person who feels this way in a helpless way while at the same time desiring to be proven wrong. Indeed, this would describe people that perhaps know that they are a little off and that they need help but they seek to prove, for some reason, that they therapist cannot help them as a way to prove that therapy is a waste of time. As the article astutely points out, this sort of patient will just bounce from one therapist or psychiatrist to another.

As for a real-world situation, witnessed or personally experienced, that dovetails and aligns with the topic in question, there are common examples all over the place. To keep things less than personal, the author of this response will use a generic example. For instance, any man or woman who has problems with a new partner or spouse because of what was experienced with a prior lover or partner is clearly having a transference situation. Any person who picks partners based on the way they grew up and what they witness, in a way, is going to have at least some problems. Indeed, any woman who is abused by their father is probably going to have rough times picking and bonding with the right sort of men that will not mistreat her. Indeed, it is a huge part of what she "knows" to be true. Conclusion
Therapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have a very hard job to do. Indeed, they have to remain engaged so as to help the patient but they also need to keep the proper boundaries and distance. Whether it be past experiences, feelings about religion, feelings about politics or other such things, these professionals have to be mindful of how they react and how they care for their patients. The mental health game is not a playing field for people that cannot or will not control their responses to such stimuli.

References

Hughes, P. & Kerr, I. (2000). Transference and countertransference in communication between doctor and patient. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 6(1), 57-64. Retrieved from http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/1/57.full#SEC7