Victims of Envy

Much has been written about envy, but virtually no attention has been paid to the victim of an envious attack and the effect on this victim's life and creativity. The author's ongoing work helping therapists who work with creative patients has shown that not only can patients' envy their analysts' creativity, but that therapists and analysts can envy their patients' creativity. The therapists' envy of their patients represents a formidable obstacle in their attempts to help their creative patients. What little attention has been paid to this issue has been in the analysis of countertransference reactions to the patient's envious attacks on the analyst.