Catching my balance in the countertransference: Difficult moments with patients in psychoanalytic treatment

Abstract

Many of our patients in psychoanalytic treatment introduce transference states that pull for particular countertransference acting-out. By their overreliance on projective identification, they invite us to recreate various unconscious phantasies involving paranoid and depressive object relational conflicts. Using one extensive case report, the author demonstrates the ongoing struggle in the countertransference to maintain an analytic balance. When taking the inevitable misstep toward enactment, the author demonstrates how to work towards regaining analytic balance.

Keywords:

• countertransference
• interpretation
• containment

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert Waska

Robert Waska MFT, PhD, is a 1999 graduate of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Studies, an International Psychoanalytical Association affiliate organization. He conducts a full-time private psychoanalytic practice for individuals and couples in San Francisco and Marin County, California. In addition, he has taught classes and supervised therapists in the Bay Area as well as presented papers in the US and internationally