Table of Contents
Can therapists sense transference?
All well trained therapists are aware of transference and countertransference and should be comfortable bringing the dynamics up, when they sense that there is some form of transference happening. For example, transference in therapy happens when a patient attaches anger, hostility, love, adoration, or a host of other possible feelings onto their therapist or doctor. Therapists know this can happen. Transference describes a situation where the feelings, desires, and expectations of one person are redirected and applied to another person. Most commonly, transference refers to a therapeutic setting, where a person in therapy may apply certain feelings or emotions toward the therapist. To end a transference pattern, one can try to actively separate the person from the template by looking for differences. Transference reactions usually point to a deeper issue or unfinished business from the past. Transference-focused psychotherapy most often takes place twice weekly. Treatment lasts between one and three years. Before therapy begins, the therapist and patient create a treatment agreement.
Can a therapist feel transference?
Therapists experience transference as well, which is known as countertransference. Since a therapist is also human, he or she will have their own history of hope, love, desire to heal others, as well as their own sadness, attachment wounds and relationship issues. When a client falls in love with a therapist it is likely to be ‘transference’: the predisposition we all have to transfer onto people in the present experiences and related emotions and unmet longings associated with people from our past. But there is also a distinct concept of projection—also associated with Freud and psychoanalysis—that means attributing one’s own characteristics or feelings to another person. In transference, one’s past feelings toward someone else are felt toward a different person in the present. Transference is often (though not always) the culprit when you feel triggered, emotionally hurt, or misunderstood in a therapy session. One tell-tale sign of transference is when your feelings or reactions seem bigger than they should be. You don’t just feel frustrated, you feel enraged.
How does a therapist work with transference?
Transference has been defined as ‘the client’s experience of the therapist that is shaped by his or her own psychological structures and past’, often involving ‘displacement onto the therapist, of feelings, attitudes and behaviours belonging rightfully to earlier significant relationships’ (Gelso & Hayes, 1998, p. 11). Sexualized transference is any transference in which the patient’s fantasies about the analyst contain elements that are primarily reverential, romantic, intimate, sensual, or sexual. It’s important to remember that transference is often subconscious or unconscious – making it difficult to spot and address. Transference is particularly likely to occur when we face any form of perceived power imbalance in a relationship. This kind of post-trauma reaction is called traumatic transference, an unconscious dynamic that happens when someone has been traumatized and is later in a situation that reminds him or her of that trauma.
How do therapists monitor for transference?
Therapists can also take steps to manage counter-transference. The 2018 meta-analysis recommends therapists closely monitor themselves and work on their conflicts through personal psychotherapy, meditation, and self-care. They may also consider clinical supervision. For example, transference in therapy happens when a patient attaches anger, hostility, love, adoration, or a host of other possible feelings onto their therapist or doctor. Therapists know this can happen. Transference is often (though not always) the culprit when you feel triggered, emotionally hurt, or misunderstood in a therapy session. One tell-tale sign of transference is when your feelings or reactions seem bigger than they should be. You don’t just feel frustrated, you feel enraged. Looking ahead. Sharing something you think is too sensitive or personal can be uncomfortable. But know you’re not alone in thinking you’ve disclosed too much in therapy. When this happens, it can help to explore why you think you’ve overshared and talk it over with your therapist. Your therapist’s relationship with you exists between sessions, even if you don’t communicate with each other. She thinks of your conversations, as well, continuing to reflect on key moments as the week unfolds. She may even reconsider an opinion she had or an intervention she made during a session. “The Dynamics of Transference” consists of a series of reflections on clinical experience, described and explained. An important, recurring issue was that patients often didn’t go along with Freud, either in the technical sense of free associating, or by getting better.
How do therapists deal with transference and countertransference?
Therapists also may deal with countertransference by seeking out their own therapy to help them address issues creating countertransference. In addition, they may gain personal awareness in their treatment and learn areas that they need to improve on. Transference is the redirection of feelings about a specific person onto someone else (in therapy, this refers to a client’s projection of their feelings about someone else onto their therapist). Countertransference is the redirection of a therapist’s feelings toward the client. Somatic countertransference has been defined as the bodily felt responses and reactions that occur in the therapist during the therapeutic process in response to bodily felt sensations of the client (Bernstein, 1984; Pallaro, 2007). Sure, it may help to glance at a clock every now and again, but most therapists learn this skill as second-nature over time. Some therapists may set their phone or PDA to vibrate to remind them. Others put clocks in strategic places in their office so both client and professional is aware of the time. In psychotherapy, there is positive and negative transference. With positive transference, the person receiving therapy redirects positive qualities onto the therapist. They may see the therapist as caring or helpful. Your therapist’s relationship with you exists between sessions, even if you don’t communicate with each other. She thinks of your conversations, as well, continuing to reflect on key moments as the week unfolds. She may even reconsider an opinion she had or an intervention she made during a session.
Do therapists transfer notes?
If this applies to your situation, you can ask your therapist to transfer any notes or records to your new practitioner, or give you a copy to take with you. In general, your therapist isn’t required to give you access to their “process notes,” which are simply notes that describe or analyze your sessions. Unlike other medical records, therapy notes are subject to special protections, which means you can request them, but that doesn’t mean your therapist has any obligation to let you see them. This article discusses your rights with regards to therapy notes as well as the potential pros and cons of reading them. The short answer is that you can tell your therapist anything – and they hope that you do. It’s a good idea to share as much as possible, because that’s the only way they can help you. Therapists experience transference as well, which is known as countertransference. Since a therapist is also human, he or she will have their own history of hope, love, desire to heal others, as well as their own sadness, attachment wounds and relationship issues. Since the transference between patient and therapist happens on an unconscious level, psychodynamic therapists who are largely concerned with a patient’s unconscious material use the transference to reveal unresolved conflicts patients have with childhood figures.