Secrets, Status and Counter-transference in Object Relations Based Couple Therapy

Abstract

Countertransference is a rich informative process in psychoanalytic treatment. In an object relations based couple therapy, the countertransference can be compounded by the existence of secrets between the partners, and between a partner and the therapist. this places the therapist in a vulnerable position on many levels. The case illustration also depicts how a professional status differential between the patient, a physician, and the therapist, a social worker, contributed to the nature of the countertransference and the maintenance of the secret and treatment in general.