NARRATIVE RESEARCH INTO EROTIC COUNTER‐TRANSFERENCE IN A FEMALE THERAPIST–MALE PATIENT ENCOUNTER

Abstract

This paper presents an example of practitioner research, using Hollway and Jefferson's (2000) Free Association Narrative Method. It examines a trainee psychotherapist's experience of erotic counter‐transference. The methodology associated with narrative method and the possibility of using it as a form of practitioner research are explored. Then follows a literature review regarding erotic counter‐transference. Subsequently, a case history is presented as the research material and its core episode is analysed.

The research outcome provides a form of ‘practice‐based evidence’. The paper concludes by reflecting on whether the narrative method has a place as a form of practitioner research in psychotherapy, in view of the experience of this particular study.