What does countertransference mean in Counselling?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines counter-transference as a reaction to the client or client’s transference,1 which is when the client projects their own conflicts onto the therapist. Transference is a normal part of psychodynamic therapy.

How does countertransference occur?

Countertransference, which occurs when a therapist transfers emotions to a person in therapy, is often a reaction to transference, a phenomenon in which the person in treatment redirects feelings for others onto the therapist.

How common is erotic transference in therapy?

The intense emotional experience of countertransference in psychotherapy also is not rare. Some studies have reported that 95 percent of male therapists and 76 percent of female therapists admit that they felt sexual feelings toward their patients.

Do psychotherapists feel sexually attracted to their clients?

Survey data from 575 psychotherapists reveal that 87\% (95\% of men, 76\% of women) have been sexually attracted to their clients, at least on occasion, and that, although only a minority (9.4\% of men and 2.5\% of women) have acted out such feelings, many (63\%) feel guilty, anxious, or confused about the attraction.

What are the signs of counter-transference in therapy?

The first sign is an inappropriate emotional response to the client. More specifically, when the client is an adult, common counter-transference reactions a therapist, or client, should look out for include: An unreasonable dislike for the client or excessive positive feelings about the client

Do therapists feel feelings for their clients?

It should not come as any surprise that for at least some subset of therapy interactions, there will be some feelings on either the part of the client toward the therapist (transference) or the therapist toward the client (counter-transference).

What is countertransference in counseling?

Countertransference has been viewed as the therapist’s reaction to projections of the client onto the therapist. It has been defined as the redirection of a therapist’s feelings toward a patient and the emotional entanglement that can occur with a patient (Fink, 2011).