The influence of theory on the psychoanalyst's countertransference

The emotional reaction in the analyst occurs in shared analytic work under the influence of the patient's transference phantasies and is the analyst's creation and contribution. The idea that the analyst has emotions introduced directly into the analyst by the patient such that the analyst contains somebody else's feelings is refuted. Examples have been offered to show how the analyst's working theory influences the countertransference. If the analyst is unaware of this, the analyst may mistakenly attribute negative countertransference to the patient's projection.