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Old Apr 06, 2014, 09:19 AM
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Lamplighter Lamplighter is offline
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Member Since: Mar 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 929
I had an instance once of a T telling me that something happening in sessions was down to his countertransference, but I didn't understand it at the time. Later I realized what it was about (he'd been feeling that he had to be the all knowing all seeing therapist because I kept asking all these questions and hassling him about things I needed that he seemed to be missing and so he was constantly interrupting me and giving me lectures and generally coming up with rational/intellectual responses to everything I was saying.)

One session he suddenly said, oh it's countertransference, and for the next couple of sessions he actually modified the way he related to me. Didn't last though, by the third session after that, he was back to opposing and interrupting and acting like the all knowing having answers for everything T again

In retrospect I also realized that he hadn't intended to tell me about the countertrransference, and I do think it's unlikely that a T would normally admit to such.

But maybe there are Ts who are happy to be more 'themselves' ie a real person rather than the cipher of a T, and so are comfortable with sharing how they feel and what they think about what the client is saying and presenting. That too is countertransference of a sort, as someone above said (nicoleflynn) that transference and countertransference occur in every relationship. I tend to agree and think that even a T relationship cannot exist without countertransference. It depends on what T does with or about it, I suppose.

Sorry I'm rambling now...
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Lamplighter used to be Torn Mind