W#2 Psychotherapy replies
Reply separately to two of your classmates posts (See attached classmates posts, post#1 and post#2).
INSTRUCTIONS:
Your responses should be in a well-developed paragraph (300-350 words) to each peer. Integrating an evidence-based resource!
Note: DO NOT CRITIQUE THEIR POSTS, DO NOT AGREE OR DISAGREE, just add informative content regarding to their topic that is validated via citations.
– Utilize at least two scholarly references per peer post.
Please, send me the two documents separately, for example one is the reply to my peers Post #1, and the second one is the reply to my other peer Post #2.
– Minimum of 300 words per peer reply.
– TURNITINAssignment.
Background: I live in South Florida, I am currently enrolled in the Psych Mental Health Practitioner Program, I am a Registered Nurse, I work in a Psychiatric Hospital.
POST # 1 PRUDENCIA
In psychoanalytic theory, transference can be seen when a patient transfers feelings, attitudes, and fantasies they had for someone who played an essential part in their life, mostly during their developmental stage, to their therapist (Ramos, Garcia-Marques, & Hamilton, 2018). It is common for patients to have both positive and negative transference towards their therapist. As therapy moves forward, patients turn to dig deeper into their childhood anger and feelings unconsciously and regress emotionally (Cory, 2016, p. 70). On the other hand, countertransference can be defined as when a therapists unconscious reaction in an inappropriate way towards their client losing their goal because their emotions are triggered by the client (Abargil & Tishby, 2020). It occurs when a patients therapeutic content meets a therapists internal content. Over the years, researchers have gone ahead to expand countertransference to include not only the therapists reaction to the patients transference but towards all detail of the clients personality and behavior (Corey, 2016, p. 71). This discussion aims to define transference and countertransference in psychoanalytical theory, talk about topics that can trigger countertransference in me, and ways to manage it.
It is essential to understand that we have emotions, we are unaware of buried deep down in us as humans. These emotions can be triggered by events or during therapy in the case of a therapist. Emotional responses that can be seen in countertransference may include but are not limited to withdrawal, love, anger, powerlessness, overidentification, and control (Corey, 2016, p. 71). Countertransference can be demonstrated in nonverbal and tonal action, which will always affect the client either knowingly or unknowingly (Safran, Kris, & Foley, 2019). Topics that can trigger countertransference include homelessness, a patient with a condescending behavior to me and others, sexual abuse, racism, and homophobia. I can identify them by the way I react towards the patient. Most often mt emotions will be passive because I am trying to be professional towards the patient. I can also identify it by the questions I ask y patient during the therapy. Although, as a therapist, we are supposed to understand where our clients are coming from and try to understand why they feel a certain way, I can see myself being triggered by such topics.
As a therapist, it is vital for me to look for ways to manage my countertransference, so it does not negatively affect my patients and me during therapy. One way to manage my countertransference is to go through analytical psychotherapy. Corey (2016) puts an emphasis on the importance of therapists to understand themselves and why they act a certain way (p.71). With the help of analytic psychotherapy, I will be able to identify and work on topics that may trigger my countertransference and seek ways to manage my feelings. This therapy will help me build a great connection with my client that is healthy, positive, and ethical. Another way to manage my countertransference is to understand my patients point of view, where they are coming from, were this behavior or feelings originated, and discuss it during therapy.
To conclude, transference and countertransference occur concurrently together. Transference is the clients unconscious transfer of feelings for someone in their past to their therapist, while countertransference is the therapist unconscious deviation from their objective in a relationship with their client due to the therapists past causing a bias notion about a patients behavior. Topics that may trigger countertransference in me include sexual abuse, racism, and homophobia. One way to manage my countertransference is to participate in analytic psychotherapy, where I will understand what triggers my emotion and how-to manage them. I can also control my countertransference by understanding where my patient is coming from and addressing these findings during the therapy rather than being judgmental or biased.
References
Abargil, M., & Tishby, O. (2020). Countertransference as a reflection of the patients inner relationship conflict. Psychoanalytic Psychology.
https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000312.supp
(Supplemental).
Corey, G. (2016). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage. ISBN: 9781305263727.
Ramos, T., Garcia-Marques, L., & Hamilton, D. (2018). Spontaneous trait inference and transference: Exploring the link between names and traits. Annalise Psychological, 36(4), 399408.
https://doi.org/10.14417/ap.1320
.
Safran, J. D., Kris, A., & Foley, V. K. (2019). Psychodynamic psychotherapies. In D. Wedding & R. J (Eds). Current Psychotherapies (11th ed., pp. 21-57). POST # 2 GIDEON
Trigger countertransference is predominant in a scenario where the therapist might be involved in extending effective care to the patient or the person in need of consultation. The psychotherapist’s role might be applied to the point in different settings. The patient’s narrative under care has been affected by the Countertransference and thereby triggers the therapist by bringing back memories. As a Registered Nurse Case Manager, I can reflect upon certain instances where I had faced trigger countertransference in coordinating care. I had been extending towards ten years old, mentally challenged, and had some problem coping with the dynamic classroom situation. On hearing the student’s narrative, I felt that I was walking down the memory lane of my own experience.
As a child growing up, I have experienced more difficulty dealing with the teachers’ changing emotions and feelings. The peers’ pressure in succumbing to certain norms embedded within them had been traumatic for me in person. For example, the recollection of these memories and the portrayal of the same through the child’s narrative have put me through a more caring mood. The revival of the memories from the experience of trauma had been difficult for me to recollect. The situations had been the same with other instances, and the patient’s narrative symbolized the knowledge of the individuals being repressed (Hayes et al., 1998).
Identifying the Countertransference is marked by its difficulties as the process of remembrance and recollection is challenging and demands the individuals’ consolidation. Such understanding thereby needs to come in terms with developing a greater understanding of how such factors affect our lives and can be dealt with to mitigate the impact they have on our lives (Rosenberger & Hayes, 2002).
The psychoanalytical theory states that Countertransference can be described as a mirror image reflection of the classical transference. As per Freud’s view, the therapist’s transference is the reflection of the clients’ transference. On the other hand, the Countertransference’s automatic reaction evolves due to the conflict of the person resolved in a proper manner (Hayes, 2004). The experience of Countertransference is the fusion of the past and the present. The repressed life with unresolved conflictual factors has been contributing to the understanding of the present. The client’s narrative is useful in sending the therapist’s conflictual memory unconsciously to the part of the mind and thereby calls them forth (Loewald, 1986).
References
Hayes, J. A. (2004). The inner world of the psychotherapist: A program of research on
Countertransference.Psychotherapy Research,14(1), 21-36.
Hayes, J. A., McCracken, J. E., McClanahan, M. K., Hill, C. E., Harp, J. S., & Carozzoni, P. (1998). Therapist
perspectives on Countertransference: Qualitative data in search of a theory.Journal of
Counseling Psychology,45(4), 468.
Loewald, H. W. (1986). Transference-countertransference.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association,34(2), 275-287.
Rosenberger, E. W., & Hayes, J. A. (2002). Origins, consequences, and management of
Countertransference: A case study.Journal of counseling psychology,49(2), 221.
