Types of countertransference dynamics: an exploration of their impact on the client-therapist relationship

The purpose of this study was to develop a typology of countertransference (CT) based on therapists' narratives about their parents and their clients.

Data are based on interviews conducted in the early, middle and late phases of ongoing psychodynamic psychotherapy with five therapists who treated 12 clients. Narratives were analyzed using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method (CCRT). CT was defined as repetition of CCRT components from therapists' relationship with their parents in their narratives with their clients.

Raters identified five types of CT in the narratives: Wish from parent transferred to client, Projection of the parent Response from Other (RO) to client, Repetition of the Response of Self (RS), Repeating the negative parent RO, and Repair of the parent RO.

A preliminary analysis of two psychodynamic therapies, one with good outcome and one with poor outcome, showed that CT types could be reliably rated.