Understanding Countertransference

Download or read book Understanding Countertransference written by Michael J. Tansey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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, while arguing against the totalist assumption that the therapist's emotional to the patient must be revelatory in a direct and immediate way.