Psychoanalytic Technique (VIII): Countertransference reactions

Abstract

Throughout the psychoanalytic process, particularly when the patient’s transference phenomena become highly manifest, the therapist experiences a series of feelings and reactions toward the analysand. This set of responses is referred to as countertransference, and it can either serve as an essential support for the cure or, conversely, become a source of neurotization of the analyst, with the resulting inability to guide the analysis toward productive goals.

The purpose of this article is to delineate these phenomena.