Abstract
It is not for malicious reasons that clients offer resistance, but in order to protect themselves. They are afraid of the changes they desire and try to defend their survival system against therapy.
The psychoanalytic concept of resistance will be explained within a transactional analytic framework. A number of therapeutic options will be shown which help to deal with resistance in clients. Special notice will be given to interventions which take up and utilize resistance so that the defense itself becomes a generator of growth.