Counter transference
Counter-transference refers to transference in the reverse direction – from analyst to patient. It generally refers to unconscious emotional needs, wishes, or conflicts of the analyst evoked by the patient, which are brought into the analytic situation and thus influence the analyst’s objective judgement and reason. The psychoanalyst being participant observer enables to have a fuller appreciation of the drama of the patient’s life by dint of counter-transference. The analyst does not act on the counter-transference but rather uses her awareness of these feelings as further information to grasp an understanding of the patient’s world.
Counter-transference manifests itself in many ways: it is commonly acute, temporary, superficial, and easily recognized and managed; but it can also be chronic, permanent, deeply rooted, largely unconscious and out of the analyst’s control. The former is might be the result of a very specific content that arises or in identification with some concrete aspect of the patient’s personality.