In working with people who suffer from borderline personality disorder, you may often feel deeply hostile toward your clients; you need to use that feeling to understand their murderous rage, their inability to tolerate frustrate and their desire to take over and possess you.
Category: The Psychotherapy Relationship
Countertransference Issues in Treating Depression
Countertransference in the broad sense means all your thoughts, feelings and fantasies during a psychotherapy session. It’s a useful tool for understanding your clients, especially those suffering from depression where anger and rage are an unconscious issue.
Defense Mechanisms VI: Repression (and Resistance)
A discussion of the most fundamental of all defense mechanisms — repression — and how you may encounter resistance in your clinical practice when you try to probe it with your clients.
The Development of Mind and Meaning (Part I)
In early infantile development, the baby projects unbearable experience into its caretakers who, by responding appropriately to what is needed, function as a kind of external container for that experience, gradually helping the infant to develop a mind of its own.
The Mythical Therapist
Many people — clients and therapists alike — idealize psychotherapists, expecting them to transcend normal human needs and limitations; they’re supposed to achieve some level of bounty, emotional and financial, where they can sacrifice their income to the financial needs of their clients.