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The impatient therapist: managed care and countertransference
1Psychology Doctoral Program, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco 94109, USA.
American Journal of Psychotherapy
|July 1, 1997
Summary
Therapist impatience hinders effective patient care by reducing listening and understanding. Developing self-awareness and coping strategies is crucial for therapists to overcome these challenges.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychotherapy
Background:
- Therapy effectiveness is vulnerable to therapist impatience, often exacerbated by external pressures.
- Unconscious impatience can impair a therapist's ability to listen fully and understand patient issues.
Observation:
- External pressures encouraging haste in therapy are unlikely to diminish.
- Impatience can stem from various sources: deviations from plans, third-party demands, perceived lack of progress, self-doubt, and attachment to specific methods.
Findings:
- Therapists must cultivate awareness of impatience triggers and develop conscious coping mechanisms.
- Buddhist principles highlight aversion, attachment, and confusion as hindrances to clear perception, offering self-examination as a solution.
Implications:
- Directly confronting and observing the arising and passing of impatient states is key.
- This self-awareness practice enhances therapists' capacity for careful, compassionate listening and effective therapeutic engagement.