The Impact of Transference and Counter Transference on the Therapeutic Relationship - Coursework Example

Critically discuss the impact of transference and counter transference on the therapeutic relationship This essay will critically examine the impact of transference and counter transference on the therapeutic relationship between a therapist and his or her client. Transference refers to the process in which a client redirects feelings from a significant other to the therapist. Its manifestation occurs through the display of rage, parentification, mistrust, and sexual overtures resulting from a client’s sexual attraction towards the therapist. Conversely, counter transference encompasses the redirection of a therapist’s feelings towards a client. More often than not, counter transference is a product of a therapist’s pent up unresolved issues such as personal frustration (Fischalini, 1995). Transference and counter transference undermine the therapeutic process, as both parties constantly have to deal with inappropriate feelings. Transference and counter transference encompasses a mine of opportunities and invaluable information pertaining to the therapist, client and supervisor. An analysis of the transference process is an opportunity to rectify or modify malfunctioned attitudes of people (Bordin, 1979). In the situation of a supervisor-supervisee relationship, transference and counter transference may occur where a supervisee feels that his supervisor is too rigid or opinionated, which trigger feelings of low self-esteem. As a result, the supervisee may feel inadequate to best address future clients’ needs. Such a supervisee is unsure of their skills as a therapist whereby, in extreme situations, clients are able to detect the therapist’s uneasy predisposition. Clients high in neurotism (emotionally unstable clients) or those suffering from severe psychological or personality disorders might take advantage of the situation by developing transference, as the therapist is not in charge of the situation (Gabbard, 1995). The consequence of counter transference in a therapist entails their inability to form a meaningful professional relationship with the client. The therapeutic process flourishes when therapists demarcate clear boundaries. This entails explaining to clients the nature of their relationship using ethical guidelines stipulated by the Code of Ethics as a guide. Research indicates that therapists also have a high probability of developing an inclination to forming unprofessional relationships with their clients if they suffered abuse prior to becoming a therapist or if they were previously afflicted with substance abuse disorder (Barak & Lacross, 1975). The reality of having to face the truth of what they underwent, and the impact it had on them as individuals interferes with their ability to function in a professional manner. In such situations, they tend to shy away from discussing client’s problems that mirror personal experiences. By refraining from discussing such issues, the therapist imposes their personal feelings on the client, which contravenes ethical guidelines governing the profession. In addition, it reinforces distrust in clients who were recent victims of traumatic events such as abuse. During their therapy session, these clients need to establish a trustworthy relationship with their therapist, which entails a kind of back and forth pattern between the client and therapist (Benayah & Stern, 1994). Not working with the counter transference undermines the therapist’s ability to appraise their own counter transference. When a therapist does not check the level of counter transference during his therapy sessions, he is unable to work concurrently with it (Counselman, 1997). In essence, therapists are to use transference as a means of correcting malfunctioned attitudes in their clients. In addition, when transference or counter transference is denied by a therapist or regarded as wrong or imaginary, it leads to a hostile and unsafe environment for counselling. The counselling environment is meant to be safe whereby, a platform is created for the client to fully disclose information without any hindrances. It is only when a therapist accepts transference and counter transference does the counselling environment become a haven for clients afflicted with psychological problems. Additionally, he will be able to objectively and effectively maintain boundaries during counselling relationship by assessing feelings of discomfort or fearfulness displayed by a client. In such a scenario, the therapist remains keen on non-verbal cues displayed by the client throughout the session. Moreover a conducive environment also gives clients the opportunity to observe and analyse their own feelings and its connections to problematic behaviours without fear of backlash (Jacobs, 1999). Transference and counter transference reinforces the relationship pattern between the client and the therapist. This encourages the growing of feelings of attachment between the two. This would not be beneficial to the client as it does not help resolve problems (Kokan, 1998). Resolution of the counselling process becomes difficult in the midst of transference and counter transference. After a therapist and a client have met the objectives of the therapy, the therapist ought to conclude and adjourn the sessions. This entails conducting debriefing sessions aimed at reiterating the progress made by the client. Inappropriate feelings developed during the counselling session might render it difficult for both parties to conclude the sessions. For example, a client might insist that they still have unresolved problems despite the existence of contradictory evidence. This is unethical because there is presence of a dual relationship that goes beyond the demarcated boundaries and additionally, it takes advantage of the client whereby, he is forced to pay more money for sessions when he does not stand to benefit from continued therapy. Conversely, unsuccessful resolution of the counselling process also undermines the follow up sessions (Laine, 2007). Transference exhibited by the client might lead to rejection from the therapist. The client might display behaviours that mirror an individual the therapist dislikes. When clients remind a therapist of a person who the therapist disliked, the therapist may project his feelings of dislike to his client leading to total rejection of the client. This is contradicts the unconditional acceptance therapists are meant to accord their clients in order to help them during therapy. Carl Rogers advanced his model of the therapeutic triad, which identified three qualities professional, well-trained therapists ought to possess. Among these qualities is unconditional positive regard, which entails the display of objective, non-biased opinions when dealing with a client aimed at putting the client at ease. The remaining two entail empathy and genuineness whereby, a combination of three guarantees success during therapy. Pre-occupation with acceptance of the client prevents the therapist from dispensing his services effectively to his client (Hernandez & Fulan, 2010). Transference by the therapist may lead to being complicit with maladaptive patterns that their clients have. During therapy therapists are meant to control their boundaries and if at all there arises incidences of transference or counter transference, they are meant to control their situation and prevent it from growing. They are not meant to maintain such issues in the therapeutic relationship. Tolerating it consequently leads to them becoming accomplices, which maintains the troubled relationship with their clients (Bordin, 1979). Transference during therapy may lead to a therapist withholding information from his client in order to save their feelings from getting hurt. For example, a therapist may fail to tell his client who is sexually attracted to him that he is married and has children so as to spare their feelings from being hurt. Withholding of this information may later on make the therapist feel guilty because he may feel that he lied by denying he has a spouse and children (Fetham & Horton, 2006). When a therapist does not acknowledge their own counter transference, it interferes with the client’s ability to pre-empt the outcome of the therapeutic sessions. In addition, a therapist’s awareness of their counter transference proves useful when dealing with a client predisposed to projecting fearful or distrustful feelings. This also avoids the emotional pendulum effect where a client may display transference behaviour, which results in the therapist’s counter-transference and validation of dysfunctional behaviours during the progression of therapy. This is detrimental to the therapeutic process if not handled effectively. When a therapist accepts the client’s transference, it leads to the client independently solving it without the therapist having to react to it. Controlled reactions from the therapist will make the client see that his behaviour is often misplaced and not the fault of the therapist or does not reflect the perceived nature of the therapist. Proper dealing with transference may trigger a client’s realization that their behaviour was inappropriate and in need of adjustment (Gelso & Hayes, 2007). Transference and counter transference may elicit feelings of guilt and anger in a therapist when he is unable to relate to events that happened to a client. For example, in the situation where a therapist is counselling a torture victim, he may feel guilty for not sharing the survivor’s experience. The therapist may also feel angry because of the inability to assist on a grander scale prior to the attack’s occurrence. The therapist may also have anger directed towards the perpetrators, which he projects towards the therapist. This undermines the objectivity of therapy, as the therapist lets personal views blind him and prevent him from helping his client (Gilbert & Leahy, 2007). Future possibilities of a client returning to seek therapy from a therapist are tarnished by transference and counter transference when any possibilities of future relationships between the therapist and client extinguish probabilities of the client being able to return and seek therapy from the said therapist. This also severely obstructs the therapeutic process. Neither one of the parties can freely speak about what they feel during sessions so as to maintain the good image they have with each other. This violates ethical codes and prevents the therapist-client relationship from operating within the confines of professionalism (McMahon et al, 2009). Transference and counter transference has a detrimental effect on the therapeutic alliance. The therapeutic alliance is an agreement between the therapist and the client where the client expects that the therapist is qualified and able to help him deal with his issues. Similarly, the therapist expects the client to attend therapy and engage in therapeutic exercises. With transference and counter transference, the therapeutic alliance is severely altered where the therapist may be unable to effectively diagnose possible problems afflicting the client, as they may have hidden agendas. The therapeutic alliance may become distorted with the client’s increasingly complex wants (Meyers et al, 2006). Therapists may experience secondary traumatization as a result of transference when dealing with a specific genre of clients. A therapist who is recurrently counselling clients who have faced exploitation or abuse may experience signs of trauma; for example, inability to sleep (insomnia), disrupted sleep patterns or feelings of anger and anxiety. Therapists quite often cannot understand levels of violence faced by adult survivors and this seemingly upsets them. These therapists consequently face a lot of stress, which results in burnout. Some may even develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder despite never personally experiencing abuse in their lives. Such scenarios lead to a therapist over or under investing in their clients, as they lack the ability to focus on the goals of counselling (Hudnall, 2009). An under invested therapist may openly distance himself from the client and his issues pertaining to abuse. He might react coldly to his client and lack empathy for what the client underwent. On the other hand, an overly invested therapist might assume parental responsibilities whereby, they might take up roles like financially aiding their clients. In the case of an abused child, the therapist may develop anger towards the parents, previous therapists and child welfare services officers. Moreover, they might fail to correct clients when they act destructively. Burnout affects therapists when pressures from work weigh down on the therapist’s work spirit and further interferes with their personal life. When a therapist counsels large number of clients, receives inadequate supervision, and lives an unhealthy personal life he is more likely to experience burnout. Burnout impairs the therapists reasoning rendering them incapable of detecting a client’s transference of emotions towards them. In such situations, they might end up reciprocating transferred feelings, which directly violates guidelines advanced in the professional Code of Ethics (Maroda, 1991). Transference in a client may lead to the therapist taking a parental role. When this occurs the client becomes overly dependent on the therapist and is unable to make his own decisions independent of the therapist. This contradicts the fundamental goal of therapy, which entails empowering clients to take charge of their lives. However, this presents an opportunity for the therapist to inquire further into the role he has been placed into. He can investigate by asking his client about his feelings concerning his pre-occupation with holding him to such high standards (Corey, 2008). In order to manage transference and counter transference a therapist, being the professional, ought to identify his feelings in order to uncover the root cause of the feelings. This will guide him or her in the implementation of corrective measures aimed at preventing future occurrences of counter transference. Self-reflection aids the therapist in the identification of causal factors and their solutions. In addition, it also provides insight with regard to possible ways a client might react. For example, is a client displays fits of rage towards the therapist, the latter ought to appraise the situation objectively in order to identify possible trigger that are personal to the client and responsible for predisposing such behaviors. Transferred feelings, thoughts or behaviors that are negative from a client should not make a therapist discredit their professional competency, as they are aware such scenarios might occur during the counseling relationship. In addition, supervision from other qualified professionals helps therapists put counseling experiences into perspective. Burnout, is a major cause of counter transference; therefore, its mitigation centers on a therapist’s ability to seek supervision from qualified professionals trained to handle debriefing (Campbell, 2000). Finally, the demarcation of clear boundaries proves beneficial for the counseling relations, as all parties are aware of their specific roles within the counseling relationship (Gabbard & Lester, 1995). For example, a counselor is acutely aware of that ethical guidelines prohibit the formation of physically intimate relationships with clients (Gorton et al, 1996). In addition, boundaries also help to safeguard the counseling environment by creating a safe haven for clients to share freely their thoughts and feelings without the fear of negative criticisms (Jacobs & David, 1995). Conversely, the client also has a role to play in the mitigation of transference within a counseling relationship. They might choose to seek clarification from the therapist when plagued by inappropriate feelings projected at the therapist. Therefore, feelings of shame or attachment to one’s therapist should not be hidden away (Nelson, 2008). Most therapists who are interested in relational issues expect transference to occur and are willing to talk and sort it out. Talking about these feelings make them more manageable and with time fade away. Another key management tool of transference in clients is finding the cause of the feelings. Transference is usually a sign of deep unresolved issues. With the identification of these root causes the strong dislike for one’s therapists eventually subsides. Additionally separation of one’s therapist from the person who he reminds one of effectively manages transference (Corey, 2009). Creating a list of the differences between these two individuals will enable you to overcome transference. Discussing how an individual would like to relate to his therapist with the said therapist helps him do away with transference. One can imagine how he would like to relate with his therapist and then put into practice. Leaving and finding another therapist is an avenue for managing transference. This especially holds when one is sexually attracted to one’s therapist. The sexual feelings will come in the way of the client receiving treatment for his problem and reduces the risk of being emotionally hurt. In conclusion, transference and counter transference is a permanent feature of the therapeutic relationship. Therefore, it is important for both the therapist and client to approach the therapy process with caution whereby, each party needs to pre-empt causes of transference and counter transference (Fischalini, 1995). In addition, both parties must assume the primary responsibility of implementing solutions that mitigate this problem. Therapists especially, should be able to identify instances where their clients are portraying transference in order to identify the fundamental problems triggering the display of transferred thoughts, emotions or behaviors. Additionally, they should take corrective measures to prevent transference and counter transference from disrupting the therapeutic process. When a therapist feels that his client is facing feelings of transference, specifically of a sexual nature, he should take the initiative of talking about it with his client, as he understands that the feelings result from the close bond formed during the therapeutic relationship. In addition, therapists must uphold unconditional positive regard for the clients and endeavor to keep client’s needs first. Clients on the other hand, should seek help when dealing with transference as they lack the knowledge to effectively deal with the causes and their possible solutions. For example, by gaining insight on the possible reasons predisposing inappropriate feelings towards their therapist, clients are able to make a conscious effort to refrain the from disruptive thoughts, feelings or behaviors. References Barak, A., & Lacross, M. B. (1975). Multidimensional Precepts of the Counsellor Behaviour. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 471-476. Benayah, C., & Stern, M. (1994). Transference: Realizing a Love by Not Actualizing It. Israeli Journal of Psychiatry and Relational Studies, 94-105. Bordin, E. S. (1979). The Generalizability of the Psychoanalytic Concept of the Working Alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, 252-260. Campbell, J. M. (2000). 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