| Countertransference,
as described in the Dictionary of Psychology,
is the analyst's transference on to his/her
patient, often used more widely to describe
the analyst's feelings toward the patient (Statt,
1981). In the practice of therapy, that is,
psychotherapy that is non-analytical, the therapist's
own personality is one of the most significant
factors in treatment. The therapist's attempt
to reach the patient on an humanistic level
is equal to any technical skills and knowledge.
The life experiences, attitudes and genuineness
that the therapist brings into the relationship
are critical factors in establishing trust.
As Humphrey and colleagues (1983) suggest, "above
all, therapists need to be skilled and sensitive.
Mere knowledge of theories is of limited practical
value if the therapists are not able to use
themselves as persons constructively in sessions
with individuals and couples."
Many paradigms are offered
for sufferers of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
These methodologies are efficacious to some,
while others continue to feel their terror in
an isolated world of fear and aloneness. The
sufferer remains for the most part an outsider
who is convinced that he/she cannot be fully
understood for the pain they are enduring. My
own experience with sufferers of PTSD is that
the constant that seems to control their inability
to extricate the affect of the memory is this
feeling of aloneness. Indeed, for the most part,
they were alone. The child, molested
by the father who looked to mother for help
- but for security, financial, and/or social
implications was denied even recognition of
the problem - was alone. She continues to believe
that she is unique in her subjective world -
different, bad, deserving of what happened to
her, a traitor for "telling," and
emotionally guarded (for it could happen again).
Those of us who have not suffered such trauma,
cannot begin to truly understand this feeling
of solitary detachment. We can empathize, treat
from a distance, and even allow our emotional
selves to express our sympathy. But are we really
aware? Are we really there - with our
patient? It is this awareness that I am presenting
under the guise of countertransference.
In treatment, as in love, there
cannot be effective emotional connectedness
without understanding. I am suggesting that
we attempt to enter this world with our patient.
Not solely from an impassive theoretical arena,
but to actually walk, feel, see, smell, taste
the trauma.
"Hold my hand, I want
to go there with you. I am afraid, and I don't
like where we may be headed, but I need to
be there. Maybe then, I can truly understand
what now I can only glance. Maybe then, together,
we can touch this thing and take it out of
the shadows."
I have found that this statement
and action, have provided two significant
areas of straightforward resolution in the therapeutic
dynamic. First, the humanistic availability
of myself to my patient allows them to afford
a vulnerability that otherwise they contain.
Secondly, my "wanting" to go there,
to experience with all senses, instills a certain
normalcy to their perceived uniqueness. Engaging
in the full process of experience by allowing
ourselves to encounter the trauma and relay
to our patient our own upset about "being
there," provides us with more than a glimpse
of the distress. Perhaps giving ourselves a
more acute sense of affectivity will open us
to more creative, objective and effective ways
of settling traumatic memory.
References
Humphrey, F.G. (1983). Ethical
and professional issues in psychotherapy.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Statt, D. (1981). Dictionary
of Psychology. New York, NY: Harper and
Row.
©1998 by The American Academy
of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Inc.
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