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Copyright of Aletheia is the property of Aletheia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Estilos da Clínica is the property of FEUSP - Faculdade de Educacao da USP - Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper that thinks over the real, the truth and the transference, the author starts from the freudian concept of conviction. And more accurately, he considers how during a latter psychoanalysis, the perspective of a former one can be modified. He makes a review about what Margaret Little, Heinz Kohut and André Green wrote (either in a direct, concealed or implicit way) about their formative psychoanalysis during later analytical procedures. He concludes that the transcendence of tolerating important regressive movements in the transfero- -contratransferencial axis is important in order to make the conviction appear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship between countertransference (CT) and therapeutic alliance (TA) during the early stages of psychodynamic psychotherapy. A secondary objective is to assess associations between CT and variables related to therapist and patient and between CT and other patient variables investigated, which were defense mechanisms, symptomology and functionality.Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study that enrolled 30 patients treated by 17 different therapists at the psychotherapy clinics of two psychiatry centers. Assessments of each patient-therapist pair were conducted between their fourth and 10th sessions.Results: The CT distance domain exhibited a moderate negative correlation with TA, particularly its sub-dimension representing the patient's capacity for work in therapy. Moderate positive correlations were observed between CT distance and the splitting defense mechanism and between CT closeness and suppression defenses, in addition to moderate negative correlation between CT indifference and the fantasy defense mechanism. Another finding was higher scores for CT indifference in association with socioeconomic classes D and E.Conclusions: The quality of CT may provide a source of information about TA. A high degree of CT distance represents a low level of TA, particularly with relation to the patient's working capacity, although presence of the splitting defense mechanism can affect CT, to the extent that it constitutes a confounding variable. The concept of CT is useful to psychotherapists, providing a source of information about the patient's internal world and about certain elements of therapy, such as the quality of TA, which is important for good treatment results.

INTRODUCTION: Countertransference, the emotional reaction of a psychotherapist toward a patient, is an important technical element of psychotherapy. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify and describe the main findings of studies that evaluated countertransference in adult psychotherapy.METHODS: A search was conducted of the databases Embase, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge to retrieve data published in any language at any time.RESULTS:Of the 1,081 studies found in the databases, 25 were selected. Most were about psychodynamic psychotherapy, and results indicated that positive countertransference, that is, feelings of closeness to the patient, are associated with positive outcomes, such as symptom improvement and good therapeutic alliance.CONCLUSIONS: Although few studies were found in the literature, countertransference seems to be an important source of knowledge about several aspects, such as treatment outcomes, attachment style, therapeutic alliance, patient symptoms and diagnoses.

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are typically unstable and intense in their feelings and behaviors, easily arousing negative emotional reactions in their therapists. Therefore, managing countertransference is essential for psychotherapy with these patients. The present systematic case study aims to describe countertransferential manifestations in the therapeutic process of the first year of a psychoanalytical therapy with a BPD patient, broadening the empirical knowledge on how countertransference interacts with the patient's variables. The sessions (n=59) were codified by pairs of independent judges trained with the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set (PQS), a q-sort with 100 items that give a description of the patient, the therapist and of the interaction variables that typify the treatment. Experts in psychoanalytical psychotherapy selected six PQS items as indicative of countertransferential reactions and 12, as indicators of mental states and behaviors characteristic of patients with BPD. These items were examined in relation to time. Findings reveal predominance of therapeutic attitudes compatible with positive countertransference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is evidence that awareness of countertransference (CT) in combination with a conceptualization of CT facilitates its management. This study examines the impact of a trans-theoretical training designed to make the construct of CT accessible to trainee therapists in programs oriented towards cognitive-behavioral therapy. The training aimed to enhance trainees' awareness, understanding, and management of CT. Method: Academics at five New Zealand universities introduced the training into their curriculum. Five academics and 54 clinical psychology trainees evaluated it, responding to open-ended questions on the impact of the training on awareness, understanding, and management of CT. They also rated the training's effectiveness. Results: The majority of trainees reported increased awareness and conceptualization of CT. They rated the training as useful for professional practice and reported increased commitment to monitoring CT. Academics also observed trainees' increased awareness and understanding of CT and openness to discussing it. Trainees and academics were less confident in trainees' abilities to manage CT in clinical practice, although trainees reported gains in this area. Conclusions: The training appeared to enhance awareness and conceptualization of CT, processes that support its management. However, future research into training models needs to examine the impact on CT management in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the clinical treatment of a patient suffering from symptoms of emptiness and apathy. During his treatment, a negative transference came up in the form of anger and accesses of fury. Based on references from the field of psychoanalysis and the modalities of psychic illnesses, as well as by analyzing an occurred countertransference, the author proposes a reflection on how to clinically deal with such cases, on the encountered violence and on the alternation between states of silence and fury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the clinical treatment of a patient suffering from symptoms of emptiness and apathy. During his treatment, a negative transference came up in the form of anger and accesses of fury. Based on references from the field of psychoanalysis and the modalities of psychic illnesses, as well as by analyzing an occurred countertransference, the author proposes a reflection on how to clinically deal with such cases, on the encountered violence and on the alternation between states of silence and fury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arteterapia is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Psicoterapia is the property of Revista de Psiquiatria y Psicologia Humanista, S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is quite frequent that students under clinical supervising report that some feelings and sensations emerge while they are conducting clinical work with their patients. Understanding this feelings and sensations as countertransference, the paper present some Freud and Winnicott's consideration on the theme to propose the understanding of countertransference as analyst's resistance and clinical instrument what helps the analyst to understand the patient's psychic unconscious and phantasmatic world. In order to sustain this thesis and to illustrate how we work in the clinic at the university, the paper analysis some countertransferencial affects reported by Freud in the conduction of one of his most famous clinical case: Dora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gerais: Revista Interinstitucional de Psicologia is the property of Gerais: Revista Interinstitucional de Psicologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The meeting between doctor and patient is much more than a mere protocol procedure. The need to establish and maintain a quality relationship remains necessary. Psychoanalysis can contribute to address the inherent subjectivity of health work by noting that clinical learning goes beyond its cognitive aspects. This article aims to present three of the main educational and assistance techniques used in Medical Psychology. For this, he will use some fundamental concepts of Psychoanalysis - Transference and Countertransference - and will try to demonstrate its pertinence in the development of these techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artigo pretende mostrar como ocorre o acompanhamento terapêutico, as dificuldades encontradas e o cruzamento entre prática e teoria, a partir da experiência com um paciente fisioterápico. No texto discutiremos um pouco sobre transferência, contratransferência, cinco estágios sobre a morte e o morrer que foram cunhados por Kübler-Ross, e verificados no contexto hospitalar em pacientes fisioterápicos. Pensaremos os significados criados pela paciente a respeito da sua vida e corpo, a partir de uma visão antropológica de sua história. O nosso relato será embasado e correlacionado às experiências de vida que levaram a paciente à angustia atual.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate the construct validity of the Assessment of Countertransference Scale (ACS) in the context of the trauma care, through the identification of the underlying latent constructs of the measured items and their homogeneity. METHODS: ACS assesses 23 feelings of CT in three factors: closeness, rejection and indifference. ACS was applied to 50 residents in psychiatry after the first appointment with 131 victims of trauma consecutively selected during 4 years. ACS was analyzed by exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analysis, internal consistence and convergent-discriminant validity. RESULTS In spite of the fact that closeness items obtained the highest scores, the EFA showed that the factor rejection (24% of variance, α = 0.88) presented a more consistent intercorrelation of the items, followed by closeness (15% of variance, α = 0.82) and, a distinct factor, sadness (9% of variance, α = 0.72). Thus, a modified version was proposed. In the comparison between the original and the proposed version, CFA detected better goodness-of-fit indexes for the proposed version (GFI = 0.797, TLI = 0.867, CFI = 0.885 vs. GFI = 0.824, TLI = 0.904, CFI = 0.918). CONCLUSIONS: ACS is a promising instrument for assessing CT feelings, making it valid to access during the care of trauma victims.OBJETIVOS: O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar a validade de construto da Assessment of Countertransference Scale (ACS) no atendimento a vítimas de trauma, pela identificação de construtos latentes subjacentes dos itens medidos e sua homogeneidade. MÉTODOS: A ACS avalia 23 sentimentos de CT em três fatores: proximidade, rejeição e indiferença. A ACS foi aplicada a 50 residentes de psiquiatria após a primeira consulta com 131 vítimas de trauma selecionadas consecutivamente durante 4 anos. A ACS foi analisada por análise fatorial exploratória (AFE) e confirmatória (AFC), consistência interna e validade convergente-discriminante. RESULTADOS: Apesar do fato dos itens de proximidade terem obtido os escores mais altos, a AFE demonstrou que o fator de rejeição (24% da variância, α = 0,88) apresentou uma intercorrelação mais consistente dos itens, seguido pela proximidade (15% da variância, α = 0,82) e um fator distinto, tristeza (9% da variância, α = 0,72). Foi proposta, portanto, uma versão modificada. Na comparação entre a versão original e a proposta, a AFC detectou índices de adequação melhores para a versão proposta (GFI = 0,797, TLI = 0,867, CFI = 0,885 vs . GFI = 0,824, TLI = 0,904, CFI = 0,918). CONCLUSÕES: A ACS é um instrumento promissor para a avaliação de sentimentos de CT, tornando seu uso válido para a avaliação durante o cuidado de vítimas de trauma.

Objetivo. El estudio es del tipo investigación-intervención bajo la modalidad terapeuta-coterapeuta,orientado a entrenar a los/as estudiantes, en atención a familias y parejas. Método. Se utilizó la metodología cualitativa acción participante, en la vertiente llamada experiencial. Participaron en el estudio dos profesionales, psicólogas clínicas y 6 estudiantes de pregrado de Psicología de últimos semestres. Resultados. Se recogieron las experiencias vividas mediante la fundamentación e implementación de un modelo piloto de entrenamiento a estudiantes de Psicología en atención a familias y parejas para que pudiera ser sistematizado por la Universidad. Conclusión. La implementación del modelo de atención terapeuta-coterapeuta permitió ampliar la mirada y pasar de una atención individual (intrapsíquica) a una atención familiar, grupal o de parejas (interpersonal). Se demostró cómo la co-construcción del conocimiento deriva del trabajo en grupo y cómo emerge la necesidad de implementar otros modelos de entrenamiento terapéutico a estudiantes de pregrado en Psicología para afrontar eficazmente su práctica clínica profesional.

OBJECTIVE: To identify demographic and clinical correlates associated with therapists' countertransference feelings on the first visit of women victims of sexual violence. METHOD: Forty patients were seen by 26 therapists, during 2 consecutive years, at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Psychological Trauma, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre , Brazil. After the first visit with the patient, the therapist completed the Assessment of Countertransference Scale and the patient was evaluated with the Davidson Trauma Scale, the Standardized Assessment of Personality - Abbreviated Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Defense Style Questionnaire. RESULTS:The therapists showed a predominance of feelings of closeness (Mean = 5.42, SD = 1.25) in relation to the feelings of indifference (Mean = 1.82, SD = 1.22) and distance (Mean = 1.57, SD = 1.08) [p < 0.001]. Multivariate analyses did not present significant associations between countertransference feelings and clinical characteristics of patients. The gender of the therapists did not influence the pattern of countertransference feelings. In the subgroup of female therapists, we detected an inverse correlation between a higher probability of patients' personality disorders and feelings of closeness in the therapists. CONCLUSION: We did not detect a differential pattern of countertransference feelings associated with specific clinical characteristics. Therapists of both genders presented a similar pattern of feelings of empathy towards women victims of sexual violence, although the gender of the therapist may moderate the feelings evoked by patients with increased likelihood of personality disorders.OBJETIVO: Identificar os correlatos demográficos e clínicos associados com sentimentos contratransferenciais de terapeutas na primeira consulta de mulheres vítimas de violência sexual. MÉTODO: Quarenta pacientes foram atendidas por 26 terapeutas, ao longo de dois anos consecutivos, no Núcleo de Estudos e Tratamento do Trauma Psíquico do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brasil. Após a primeira consulta com a paciente, o terapeuta preenchia a Escala para Avaliação da Contratransferência. Os pacientes foram avaliados com a Escala Davidson de Trauma, a Standardized Assessment of Personality - Abbreviated Scale, o Inventário de Depressão de Beck, e a versão em português do Defense Style Questionaire. RESULTADOS: Os terapeutas apresentaram predominantemente sentimentos de proximidade (Mean = 5,42, SD = 1,25) em comparação aos sentimentos de indiferença (Mean = 1,82, SD = 1,22) e de distanciamento (Mean = 1,57, SD = 1,08) [p < 0,001]. As análises multivariadas revelaram a ausência de associações entre os sentimentos contratransferenciais e características clínicas dos pacientes. O gênero dos terapeutas não influenciou o padrão de sentimentos contratransferenciais. No subgrupo de terapeutas mulheres, detectamos uma correlação inversa entre alta probabilidade de transtornos de personalidade nos pacientes e sentimentos de aproximação dos terapeutas. CONCLUSÃO: Não detectamos um padrão diferencial de sentimentos contratransferenciais associados com características clínicas específicas. Terapeutas de ambos os gêneros apresentaram um padrão similar de sentimentos de empatia em relação a mulheres vítimas de violência sexual, embora o gênero do terapeuta possa moderar os sentimentos evocados por pacientes com alta probabilidade de transtornos de personalidade.

Introduction: The Rating Scale for Countertransference (RSCT) - originally, Escala para Avaliação de Contratransferência (EACT) - is a self-administered instrument comprising questions that assess 23 feelings (divided into three blocs, closeness, distance, and indifference) that access conscious countertransferential emotions and sentiments. This paper describes the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the RSCT into American English. Methods: This study employed the guidelines proposed by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation which define 10 steps for translation and cross-cultural adaptation of self-report instruments. Additionally, semantic equivalence tools were employed to select the final versions of terms used. The author of the RSCT gave permission for translation and took part in the process. The instrument is available for use free of charge. Results: Analysis of the back-translation showed that just seven of the 23 terms needed to be adjusted to arrive at the final version in American English. Conclusions: This study applied rigorous standards to construct a version of the RSCT in American English. This version of the RSCT translated and adapted into American English should be of great use for accessing and researching countertransferential feelings that are part of psychodynamic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This second of two papers focuses on the shame which emerged in the first 14 years of analysis of a woman who was bulimic, self-harmed, and repeatedly described herself as 'feeling like a piece of shit'. To explore this intense and pervasive shame I draw on Jung's and Laplanche's emphasis on experiences of unresolvable, non-pathological 'foreignness' or 'otherness' at the heart of the psyche. Images, metaphors, elements of clinical experience, and working hypotheses from a number of analytic traditions are used to flesh out this exploration. These include Kilborne's use of Pirandello's image of shame as like a 'hole in the paper sky' which, I suggest, points to a crack in subjectivity, and reveals our belief in the efficacy of the self to be illusory. Hultberg's observations on shame as having an existential mode (function) are also explored, as is the nature of analytic truth. Using these ideas I describe my patient's process of finding some small but freeing space in relation to her shame and self-hatred. Through enduring and learning from her shame in analysis she realized that it was part of a desperate unconscious attempt to draw close to her troubled father and so to 'love him better'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial and religious identities are complex, often mired in dynamics of 'othering'. Such dynamics easily become a means of distancing the pain, fear and rage of intergenerational traumas, thus undermining ways race and religion can be powerful vehicles for the transference and countertransference. Drawing from a history of race in America as well as Jung's anxiety when meeting the stranger within himself, this paper focuses on 17 years of work between a black female patient and white female clinician (me). Together we encountered themes of hatred, silence, guilt and intimacy in the transference and countertransference, themes eventually symbolized by the presence of my cat which was locked into the bathroom for each session. This cat came to represent a bridge through developmental traumas and wounds of racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of recent years there has not only been an increasing use of Skype in analytic treatment, supervision and teaching, but also a number of writers have been endeavouring to assess its effectiveness. Whilst it is generally agreed that Skype can facilitate an analytic encounter where distance prohibits a face-to-face process, where continuity needs to be maintained and where analysands are in areas far from specialized centres, there is divergence in the literature as to whether analysis, as opposed to psychotherapy, can be successful using Skype. This paper reviews the literature and concludes that the essentials of a genuine analytic process are not necessarily precluded by Skype. One central reason is because there exists a cross-modal communication channel between the human senses (underpinned by audiovisual mirror neurons) in addition to the recently discovered instinct for communication and interpersonal understanding, and these can override the need for physical proximity of the participants. The essentials of an analytic frame can thus be maintained, and the continuity that Skype enables means that containment is also facilitated and this counters the negative aspects of shuttle analysis. The critical issues for the profession then become the professional development for practitioners in the use of Skype and suggestions are listed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of a post-doctoral research. It debates the notion of psychic crisis according to Pierre Fédida. The authors discuss the case of a hospitalized HIV/AIDS patient, in which the countertransference effects of psychotherapy suggest the critical processes of the psychic crisis situation and the desire to "know about oneself". The analytical process enabled the patient to do so. The paper considers that the notion of psychic crisis contributes to research concerning psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based in contemporary neuroscience, Jean Knox's 2004 JAP paper 'From archetypes to reflective function' honed her position on image schemas, thereby introducing a model for archetypes which sees them as 'reliably repeated early developmental achievements' and not as genetically inherited, innate psychic structures. The image schema model is used to illustrate how the analyst worked with a patient who began life as an unwanted pregnancy, was adopted at birth and as an adult experienced profound synchronicities, paranormal/telepathic phenomena and visions. The classical approach to such phenomena would see the intense affectivity arising out of a ruptured symbiotic mother-infant relationship constellating certain archetypes which set up the patient's visions. This view is contrasted with Knox's model which sees the archetype an sich as a developmentally produced image schema underpinning the emergence of later imagery. The patient's visions can then be understood to arise from his psychoid body memory related to his traumatic conception and birth. The contemporary neuroscience which supports this view is outlined and a subsequent image schema explanation is presented. Clinically, the case material suggests that a pre-birth perspective needs to be explored in all analytic work. Other implications of Knox's image schema model are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esta revisão busca uma perspectiva atualizada mas socialmente não amnésica para a atuação dos psicólogos em saúde comunitária. Situam-se historicamente as principais propostas metodológicas deste século na análise e intervenção terapêutica junto a excluídos. Procura-se pelo especificamente humano, responsável pela dinâmica de formação dos excluídos por seu grupo-raiz (familiar/social). Detalha-se a loucura como exclusão da perspectiva psicanalítica (Freud e Lacan) fecundada pela fenomenologia (Merleau-Ponty, Jaspers, Laing). Dois métodos complementares são especificamente descritos e indicados: a técnica de grupo operativo (Pichón-Rivière) para pacientes ou equipe terapêutica multidisciplinar, e o método de holding lúdico (Winnicott) adaptado para grupos de pacientes adultos graves.

This paper presents the complex case of a male patient who started life as an unwanted pregnancy and adoptee in an era of socio-cultural shame and blame. When able to contact his birth mother later in life, he experienced a number of confronting synchronicities as well as visions which he felt were related to failed abortion attempts and to other pre- and post-natal events. The case material lends weight not only to Freud's, Ehrenwald's and FitzHerbert's assertions that the earliest form of mother-infant communications is telepathic in nature but that this mode of communication can be retained if emotional trauma inhibits normal developmental processes. Contemporary neuroscience research is presented supporting the hypothesis that emotional memory can become imbedded in the psyche/soma of the foetus. Such memory traces can later emerge into imagery and/or words if the traumatic impingement has been substantial enough and if other defensive strategies are in place. Clinical implications are then suggested regarding analysts' attention to the emotional conditions underpinning their patients' conceptions and foetal development; the connection to projective identification components of the countertransference as being aspects of the earliest telepathic mother/infant communication channel and the need for reductive analyses in analyst training programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A type of wilful blindness can pervert an individual's perception of truth or reality, not because that reality is too much to hold, but because it is distasteful. Undesired. The case of Adam will be used to explore perversion as it twists an analytic process, affecting the transference and countertransference in ways that are difficult to see. Theorists of Freudian, Kleinian, Lacanian, and Jungian traditions are drawn from to explore potential roots to this perverted turn, and the way it can rigidify an individuation process. The anxiety that haunts this case echoes Jung's anxiety as he wondered if the stone saw him or he saw the stone. Object and observer blend when both analyst and patient hide from themselves and one another, knowing the truth of what is being discussed but blind to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-visits Murray Jackson's 1961 paper in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, 'Chair, couch and countertransference', with the aim of exploring the role of the couch for Jungian analysts in clinical practice today. Within the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) and some other London-based societies, there has been an evolution of practice from face-to-face sessions with the patient in the chair, as was Jung's preference, to a mode of practice where patients use the couch with the analyst sitting to the side rather than behind, as has been the tradition in psychoanalysis. Fordham was the founding member of the SAP and it was because of his liaison with psychoanalysis and psychoanalysts that this cultural shift came about. Using clinical examples, the author explores the couch/chair question in terms of her own practice and the internal setting as a structure in her mind. With reference to Bleger's (2013) paper 'Psychoanalysis of the psychoanalytic setting', the author discusses how the analytic setting, including use of the couch or the chair, can act as a silent container for the most primitive aspects of the patient's psyche which will only emerge in analysis when the setting changes or is breached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows that psychotherapy inspired by psychoanalysis may be applied to institutionalized patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. That kind of psychotherapy is all the more justified by the fact that patients are affected by the loss of their relationships and libidinally invested objects. The clinician has to adapt to a psyche suffering from cognitive disorders where the motions of transference and countertransference are massive and play an important role in the psychic economy of patients. Following up on the massive distress of the elderly, which was made possible due to the clinical status of the psychotherapist, allowed patients to reinvest the relationship with the other. This psychotherapeutic follow-up resulted in a sensation of safety and in the decrease of psycho-behavioral disorders of patients who experience a phenomenon of de realization caused by the neurological disorders related to their age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship between countertransference (CT) and therapeutic alliance (TA) during the early stages of psychodynamic psychotherapy. A secondary objective is to assess associations between CT and variables related to therapist and patient and between CT and other patient variables investigated, which were defense mechanisms, symptomology and functionality. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study that enrolled 30 patients treated by 17 different therapists at the psychotherapy clinics of two psychiatry centers. Assessments of each patient-therapist pair were conducted between their fourth and 10th sessions. Results: The CT distance domain exhibited a moderate negative correlation with TA, particularly its sub-dimension representing the patient's capacity for work in therapy. Moderate positive correlations were observed between CT distance and the splitting defense mechanism and between CT closeness and suppression defenses, in addition to moderate negative correlation between CT indifference and the fantasy defense mechanism. Another finding was higher scores for CT indifference in association with socioeconomic classes D and E. Conclusions: The quality of CT may provide a source of information about TA. A high degree of CT distance represents a low level of TA, particularly with relation to the patient's working capacity, although presence of the splitting defense mechanism can affect CT, to the extent that it constitutes a confounding variable. The concept of CT is useful to psychotherapists, providing a source of information about the patient's internal world and about certain elements of therapy, such as the quality of TA, which is important for good treatment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I aim to outline the importance of working clinically with affect when treating severely traumatized patients who have a limited capacity to symbolize. These patients, who suffer the loss of maternal care early in life, require the analyst to be closely attuned to the patient's distress through use of the countertransference and with significantly less attention paid to the transference. It is questionable whether we can speak of transference when there is limited capacity to form internal representations. The analyst's relationship with the patient is not necessarily used to make interpretations but, instead, the analyst's reverie functions therapeutically to develop awareness and containment of affect, first in the analyst's mind and, later, in the patient's, so that, in time, a relationship between the patient's mind and the body, as the first object, is made. In contrast to general object-relations theories, in which the first object is considered to be the breast or the mother, Ferrari (2004) proposes that the body is the first object in the emerging mind. Once a relationship between mind and body is established, symbolization becomes possible following the formation of internal representations of affective states in the mind, where previously there were few. Using Ferrari's body-mind model, two clinical case vignettes underline the need to use the countertransference with patients who suffered chronic developmental trauma in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Countertransference, the emotional reaction of a psychotherapist toward a patient, is an important technical element of psychotherapy. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify and describe the main findings of studies that evaluated countertransference in adult psychotherapy. Methods: A search was conducted of the databases Embase, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge to retrieve data published in any language at any time. Results: Of the 1,081 studies found in the databases, 25 were selected. Most were about psychodynamic psychotherapy, and results indicated that positive countertransference, that is, feelings of closeness to the patient, are associated with positive outcomes, such as symptom improvement and good therapeutic alliance. Conclusions: Although few studies were found in the literature, countertransference seems to be an important source of knowledge about several aspects, such as treatment outcomes, attachment style, therapeutic alliance, patient symptoms and diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALTHOUGH THE USE OF countertransference is a controversial topic and the debate on the participation of the analyst's mind may go back to the old conception of aptness for the analytical task based on personality or psychological makeup, the fact is that the psychoanalyst's education involves the elaboration of his unconscious conflicts, turning conscious the pathways of his desire and his symptoms through a process of personal analysis and a long theoretical and technical training in the field of psychoanalysis. This study is a literature review based on studies about the maternal function, which aims at showing the path of recovery of countertransference in psychoanalytic theory and technique and the implication of the analyst's abilities in the analytical process. This development is tributary of the appreciation of maternal function as a model for interpersonal and therapeutic relationship in Psychoanalysis, due to the paradigm of object relations in the British psychoanalytic tradition, being Donald W. Winnicott and Wilfred R. Bion two of its main authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]