Transference and Countertransference Coping With Them As a Therapist

Transference and Countertransference: Presenting Issues

As I plan to work with young children, I anticipate different issues with transference and countertransference than a counselor who primarily focuses on working with older adults. However, all counselors should be aware of the phenomenon, how it occurs, and why, and all counselors can face the challenges of dealing with a client unconsciously coping with transference. Quite simply, transference is when a client unconsciously transfers “feelings about someone from their past onto the therapist” (Madeson, 2021, p.7).

A client may project anger at a parental figure onto the therapist. In the case of an adolescent or a child, this may occur because the parent has forced the child into therapy, while with an adult, this may occur because the client is projecting resentment and anger onto the therapist as the most readily available authority figure. For example, if the therapist leaves town for a weekend, the client may feel angry at the therapist for abandoning him or her during an emotional crisis, if the client was abandoned by a parent many years ago.

Negative transference, as seen in the above-cited examples, can emotionally distort the client’s view of reality (Madeson, 2021). Even though a therapist may have specific obligations to the client, the client may overreact to perceived rejection due to transference and the association of the therapist with an abusive parent, unfeeling spouse, or other emotionally important figure. However, transference can also be positive. Positive past relationships, such as enjoyed with parents, teachers, and other authority figures may be projected onto the therapist, causing the therapist to be perceived as kinder, wiser, and more all-knowing than the therapist actually is. A therapist must be “alert to exaggerated positive emotions such as love, excessive idealization, praise or attempts to divert the attention of therapy onto the therapist” (Prasko et al., 2020, par.3)

Although positive transference may seem to be more beneficial than negative transference, the client can form an unrealistic view of the therapist, and can be very upset when the therapist makes a mistake or behaves in a way that the client sees as imperfect and not aligned with the idealized view of the therapist’s power and wisdom. The therapist must be alerted to the risk that the client is not processing issues pertaining to genuine relationships and experiences, because the client is focusing on the projected and unrealistic relationship the client is having with the therapist.

A final type of transference, one which is the most notorious in the therapeutic community, is sexualized transference, in which the client has sexual feelings for the therapist. If this occurs, acting ethically is paramount, and a therapist (regardless of the age of the client) must never take advantage in such a professional relationship. But even as a therapist working with children and adolescents, I must be aware of when the client may not be angry at me, but at a parent, and not take this personally and feel hurt. I must also encourage clients to view my role in a realistic way, and not ask me to fix them, or to make everything alright, like an idealized parent figure. Making clients aware transference is occurring is the first step to greater self-awareness of the client’s needs.

Countertransference refers to the therapist projecting feelings onto the client from a past relationship (Madeson, 2021). This can be very difficult to navigate; for example, a therapist who has survived abuse may project feelings attached to a therapist’s violent ex-boyfriend onto a violent client; a client who is being bullied may stir up feelings the therapist had about their own child who was bullied in school. Again, self-awareness is critical (Madeson, 2021). Therapists are still human beings, even though they are professionals, and they can be aware of their feelings, even though they must discipline themselves (as I hope I will) so these feelings do not compromise the therapeutic relationship. If I have strong feelings about a client, I know I must take a breath, and perhaps discuss the case with a colleague or supervisor (in an ethically acceptable way), so I know I am giving the client the best type of experience possible.