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The ordinary and the extraordinary countertransference.

Norbert Freedman¹, Richard Lasky, Jamieson Webster

¹SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry. norbert.ewf@verizon.net

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

|June 12, 2009

Summary

This study differentiates ordinary and extraordinary countertransference in psychoanalysis. Extraordinary countertransference, an impasse outside awareness, challenges empirical observation, requiring deeper psychoanalytic insight.

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Area of Science:

Psychoanalysis
Psychology
Clinical Psychology

Background:

The concept of countertransference is explored from clinical and epistemological viewpoints.
A distinction is drawn between ordinary countertransference (transitory disruption) and extraordinary countertransference (intolerable impasse outside awareness).

Observation:

A recorded psychoanalysis was analyzed to trace the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary countertransference.
Clinical material was examined using computer-assisted language monitoring and two modes of psychoanalytic interpretive listening.

Findings:

Analytic sessions categorized as ordinary countertransference were identifiable through quantitative measures.
The boundary between ordinary and extraordinary countertransference emerged where empirical observations ceased.
Detailed psychoanalytic observation of sessions beyond empirical validation illuminated the analyst's consciousness during critical moments.

Implications:

This research refines the understanding of countertransference dynamics in psychoanalytic practice.
It highlights the limitations of purely empirical methods in capturing complex psychoanalytic phenomena.
The study offers insights into the analyst's subjective experience and state of consciousness during challenging analytic encounters.