The evolutionary and developmental origins of patient-induced countertransference

The concept of patient-induced countertransference is important is in a number of contemporary schools of psychoanalysis. This phenomenon is a product of emotional induction, the primary form of communication among prehuman animals, and the channel of communication used between infants and adults prior to the acquisition of language. Emotional induction is interwoven with all areas of human emotional communication even after the acquisition of language. It is often tied to the repetition compulsion. In the analytic setting it stimulates the analyst's experience of the patient-induced countertransference, and is an integral part of all stages of the psychoanalytic process.