In: Psychology
What is transference and countertransference and how do they operate in the therapeutic relationship?Why is it essential to understand these basic concepts? How is resistance a central issue in analytic therapy? Explain the functions that resistance serves. Discuss some guidelines that you might use in understanding both the resistance of your clients and your reactions to their resistance. What are some ways of therapeutically dealing with resistance as opposed to viewing resistance as a negative force in ?
Transference refers to the act of a client's emotional and behavioural attachment such as sex, love, hatred etc. towards a therapist. This occurs due to the patient's imagining of the therapist as someone who they were attached to in their life. Counter Transference on the other hand refers to the therapist getting emotionally and physically attached to the client.
Resistance to analytic therapy was first proposed by Sigmund Freud in which he explains that the patients would resist to certain parts or all the therapeutic processes and this happens out of their unwanted thoughts that occurs due to some problem that they faced in their life. Although most of the times it occurs unconsciously, there are also occasions where the patient would purposely won't cooperate.
Resistance during a counseling session would prevent the therapist from getting the complete analysis of the patient's problem by making the diagnostic very difficult. It would also prevent the therapist from making a bond with the client for a better understanding. Although the patient's would behave in that way, the therapist shouldn't behave that way because they are trained to understand difficult clients. They should also understand that the patient is not purposely doing this but it's their mental illness that make things difficult. The therapist can develop a more personal touch with difficult patients to build the trust and work from there.