Countertransference in the treatment of adolescents and its manifestation in the therapist-patient relationship

Countertransference is a central construct in the clinical literature (Freud, 1910; Gabbard, 2001), yet it has generated very little research to date. The present study used the CCRT method (Luborsky & Crits- Cristoph, 1998) to measure countertransference themes in a sample of 12 therapists, who described relationship episodes with their parents and with two clients. Results showed high repetitiveness of the parent themes in the narratives about the patients for all three components of the CCRT: Wish, Response of Other and Response of Self. A qualitative analysis of the narratives generated four countertransference dynamics: Repeating the parent RO, repairing the parent RO, identification with the patient, and withdrawing. It is suggested that these four dynamics constitute the process which links the origins and triggers with the manifestations and effects in Hayes's (2004) operational model of countertranference.