[Countertransference: from a psychoanalytical to a transtheoretical concept].

Area of Science:

• Psychotherapy
• Psychoanalysis
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Classical psychoanalysis viewed countertransference as therapist's 'unfinished business' requiring control.
• Modern psychoanalytic thought conceptualizes countertransference as a joint patient-therapist creation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the evolution of countertransference from a psychoanalytic concept to a trans-theoretical one.
• To highlight the broadening applicability of countertransference in psychotherapy.

Main Methods:

• A review and discussion of selected literature on countertransference.
• Analysis of the conceptual shifts in understanding countertransference.

Main Results:

• Countertransference, originally a psychoanalytic concept, has been updated and adopted by other psychotherapeutic systems.
• The concept has been modernized and integrated into diverse therapeutic modalities.

Conclusions:

• The contemporary view of countertransference as a joint patient-therapist creation has spurred wider interest.
• Practitioners in other psychotherapy fields now recognize the diagnostic and therapeutic significance of countertransference.