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Articles

Failing to Do the Job

When the Client Pays the Price for the Therapist’s Countertransference

Pages 266-276
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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This article provides a personal account of a failed psychotherapy. It describes the unconscious countertransference reactions that severely interfered with the author’s capacity to sustain a reflective space or adequate therapeutic position, resulting in the total rupture of the therapeutic endeavor. Aspects of the author’s personal therapy, ongoing consultations, and reading created a reflective space in which he was later able to come to terms with his failure and learn from it. The article concludes with a discussion of psychotic processes and the need for transactional analysts to explore and integrate other theories and treatment styles in order to further deepen the efficacy of their transactional analysis work with individuals who manifest deep states of psychological and interpersonal disturbance.

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Author information

William F. Cornell

Author Biography
William F. Cornell, MA, is a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (psychotherapy) who maintains an independent private practice of therapy, consultation, and training in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as leading frequent training groups in Europe. He is one of the coeditors of the Transactional Analysis Journal and the author of numerous articles and books. He can be reached at 145 44th St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201, USA: email: . This article is a substantial revision of Chapter 3, “Commenttre des erreurs,” [Failing] from Une Vie pour Etre Soi [It Takes a Life to Be Yourself], published by Payot, Paris, and published with permission.
 

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