My personal belief is that all therapists have countertransference-- however, the countertransference should not find its way into the session if it non-therapeutic or negative. I believe in therapy being provacative without crossing the line (I am not referring to provacative in the sexual sense). Since we do not know what this therapist's real intention was (because what he claimed may not be true), I would say the risk that he took was crossing the line... but in the most interesting way, it worked! The author describes how much she learned from the experience. Perhaps she had a very strong ego... what he did could have damaged a lot of people, whereas it did not seem to damage her too much... but then again, when a therapist takes a risk, it is up to him/her to evaluate the client's readiness to handle the risk. Either way, I would say generally speaking-- the line was crossed!