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Article

Through the Looking Glass: Explorations in Transference and Countertransference

Pages 99-107
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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This article reviews both narrow and broad definitions of transference and countertransference and provides a map of how these definitions can be understood in terms of transactional analysis. It briefly differentiates four categories: (1) what the patient brings to the relationship (pro-active transference), (2) what the psychotherapist brings (pro-active countertransference or therapist transference—pathological, (3) what the psychotherapist reacts to in the patient (reactive countertransference—inductive), and (4) what the patient reacts to as a result of what the therapist brings (client-countertransference or reactive transference). Any of these may form the basis for facultative or destructive psychotherapeutic outcomes.

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Petrūska Clarkson

Petrūska Clarkson, M.A., Ph.D. (Chartered Clinical Psychologist), A.F.B.Ps.S., Certified Transactional Analyst Instructor and Supervisor, is the Director of Clinical Training at metanoia Psychotherapy Training Institute in London. She has been on the ITAA Board of Trustees and is currently Chairperson of the Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Institute of Great Britain and National Coordinator of the British Society for Integrative Psychotherapy.
 

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