Psychoanalytic psychotherapists’ experiences of disturbance in response to working with psychosis

ABSTRACT

Working therapeutically with people who experience psychosis can be demanding, confusing and even terrifying for psychotherapists, yet there is very little research that has systematically investigated the experiences of psychotherapists concerning their engagement with psychotic phenomena. Theoretically, it has been proposed that managing countertransferential responses to a patient’s psychosis is a crucial component of working psychoanalytically with such conditions. In light of this theoretical premise, the study reported upon in this article investigated some of the negative countertransferential dynamics observed by psychotherapists who engage in clinical work with patients presenting with psychotic states or conditions. Focused semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists. Two core themes emerging from the study are discussed: firstly, the psychotherapist’s experience of madness; and secondly, the role of the body and somatic communication. The themes convey important aspects of countertransferential experiences related to the therapeutic encounter with psychosis.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychosis
• psychotherapist
• experience
• countertransference
• body
• psychoanalytic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.