Coasting In The Countertransference
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Coasting in the Countertransference
Winner of the 2009 Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic Scholarship! Irwin Hirsch, author of Coasting in the Countertransference, asserts that countertransference experience always has the potential to be used productively to benefit patients. However, he also observes that it is not unusual for analysts to 'coast' in their countertransferences, and to not use this experience to help treatment progress toward reaching patients' and analysts' stated analytic goals. He believes that it is quite common that analysts who have some conscious awareness of a problematic aspect of countertransference participation, or of a mutual enactment, nevertheless do nothing to change that participation and to use their awareness to move the therapy forward. Instead, analysts may prefer to maintain what has developed into perhaps a mutually comfortable equilibrium in the treatment, possibly rationalizing that the patient is not yet ready to deal with any potential disruption that a more active use of countertransference might precipitate. This 'coasting' is emblematic of what Hirsch believes to be an ever present (and rarely addressed) conflict between analysts’ self-interest and pursuit of comfortable equilibrium, and what may be ideal for patients’ achievement of analytic aims. The acknowledgment of the power of analysts’ self-interest further highlights the contemporary view of a truly two-person psychology conception of psychoanalytic praxis. Analysts’ embrace of their selfish pursuit of comfortable equilibrium reflects both an acknowledgment of the analyst as a flawed other, and a potential willingness to abandon elements of self-interest for the greater good of the therapeutic project.
Introduction to Countertransference in Therapeutic Practice
While transference has been fully described in the literature, countertransference has been viewed as its ugly sibling, and hence there are still not as many reflective accounts or guidance for trainees about how to handle difficult emotions, such as shame and envy and conflict in the consulting room. As a counterpoint, this book provides an integrative guide for therapists on the concept of countertransference, and takes a critical stance on the phenomenon, and theorising, about the "so-called" countertransference, viewing it as a framework to explore the transformative potential in managing strong emotions and difficult transactions. With an explicit focus on teaching, this book informs therapeutic practice by mixing theories and case studies from the authors' own clinical and teaching experiences, which involves the reader in case studies, reflection and action points. Countertransference is explored in a wide range of clinical settings, including in reflective practice and in research in the field of therapy, as well as in art therapy and in the school setting. It also considers countertransference in dream interpretation, in the supervision and teaching environment and in work with groups and organisations. Introduction to Countertransference in Therapeutic Practice offers psychotherapists and counsellors, both practicing and in training, a comprehensive overview of this important concept, from its roots in Freud’s work to its place today in a global, transcultural society.
Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst's Life Experience
2015 Gradiva Award Winner Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience explores how leaders in the fields of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy address the phenomena of the psychoanalyst’s personal life and psychology. In this edited book, each author describes pivotal childhood and adult life events and crises that have contributed to personality formation, personal and professional functioning, choices of theoretical positions, and clinical technique. By expanding psychoanalytic study beyond clinical theory and technique to include a more careful examination of the psychoanalyst’s life events and other subjective phenomena, readers will have an opportunity to focus on specific ways in which these events and crises affect the tenor of the therapist’s presence in the consulting room, and how these occurrences affect clinical choices. Chapters cover a broad range of topics including illness, adoption, sexual identity and experience, trauma, surviving the death of one’s own analyst, working during 9/11, cross cultural issues, growing up in a communist household, and other family dynamics. Throughout, Steven Kuchuck (ed) shows how contemporary psychoanalysis teaches that it is only by acknowledging the therapist’s life experience and resulting psychological makeup that analysts can be most effective in helping their patients. However, to date, few articles and fewer books have been entirely devoted to this topic. Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience forges new ground in exploring these under-researched areas. It will be essential reading for practicing psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, those working in other mental health fields and graduate students alike.