Doing Supportive Psychotherapy by John Battaglia;

Author:John Battaglia;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781615372683
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association
Published: 2019-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

In the first example response, the therapist is using her fearful countertransference by giving feedback in a nonpersonal way (“might make some people feel afraid”) and coupling this with some gentle confrontation (“You have a lot of intensity”). In the second example response, the therapist has admitted feeling fearful and sympathizes with the people who called security on the patient. The patient might then experience this as a rejection from the therapist, feeling “unheard,” and further see himself as the victim. He also might see the therapist as frail and unfair, much like so many other people he feels embittered about. Alternatively, the patient may feel some empathy for scaring the therapist and subsequently try to restrain himself more in the sessions to avoid upsetting the therapist further.

Probably the most useful sharing of countertransference in supportive psychotherapy is for the therapist to express confusion or perplexed feelings.

Example

PATIENT: I told them I didn’t want to work there anymore. I’ve decided it was too stressful. Besides, I like the manager and felt we were making progress. I actually thought he was someone I could relate to, maybe even as a friend. The people there were mostly weird, but I did like some of them. I know work is good for me, but maybe it was time for a change.

THERAPIST (feeling confused): I’m feeling confused, I hear you saying a bunch of things you like about work and the people, but also that you need to leave. Help me understand this better.

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