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TRANSFERENCE & COUNTERTRANSFERENCE School of Spiritual Direction: SDS – Spiritual Direction Supervision

WHAT IS TRANSFERENCE?  A phenomenon characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. The natural, to-be-expected process by which a person seeking help in a direction relationship (or any helping relationship) transfers his or her own feelings, thoughts, impulses and fantasies about a person from one’s past (feelings not fully resolved) to the spiritual director.! The directee in the midst of transference is not aware that he or she is doing this “transferring” of feelings.

WHAT IS COUNTERTRANSFERENCE?  The process by which the person providing help—in this case the spiritual director—reacts to his or her own feelings, thoughts, impulses and fantasies aroused by the directee.!  Commonly expanded to include any feelings, emotions, or reactions that the director has for or toward the directee.

THE ORIGINS OF TRANSFERENCE  Transference was first described by psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for better understanding of the patient's feelings.  When Freud initially encountered transference in his therapy with patients, he thought he was encountering patient resistance, as he recognized the phenomenon when a patient refused to participate in a session of free association. But what he learned was that the analysis of the transference was actually the work that needed to be done: "the transference, which, whether affectionate or hostile, seemed in every case to constitute the greatest threat to the treatment, becomes its best tool". The focus in psychodynamic psychotherapy is, in large part, the therapist and patient recognizing the transference relationship and exploring the relationship's meaning. Since the transference between patient and therapist happens on an unconscious level, psychodynamic therapists who are largely concerned with a patient's unconscious material use the transference to reveal unresolved conflicts patients have with childhood figures. (Wikipedia)

ORIGINS OF COUNTERTRANSFERENCE  First defined publicly by Sigmund Freud in 1910 as being "a result of the patient's influence on [the physician's] unconscious feelings.  Includes unconscious reactions to a patient that are determined by the psychoanalyst's own life history and unconscious content; it was later expanded to include unconscious hostile and/or erotic feelings toward a patient that interfere with objectivity and limit the therapist's effectiveness.  More positive views of countertransference began to emerge, approaching a definition of countertransference as the entire body of feelings that the therapist has toward the patient.  The contemporary understanding of countertransference is thus generally to regard countertransference as a “jointly created” phenomenon between the treater and the patient. The patient pressures the treater through transference into playing a role congruent with the patient’s internal world. However, the specific dimensions of that role are colored by treater’s own personality. Countertransference can be a therapeutic tool when examined by the treater to sort out who is doing what, and the meaning behind those interpersonal roles (Wikipedia)

IMPACT OF TRANSFERENCE & COUNTERTRANSFERENCE  Unrecognized and/or unacknowledged transference/countertransference can result in the direction relationship being derailed, growth for the directee being inhibited, and the potential for harm to the directee increases. On the other hand, transference reactions can be an opportunity for the directee to experience growth, healing, and strengthened relationship with God, as can appropriately used countertransference.

EXAMPLES OF TRANSFERENCE  Feeling sexual attraction for the director  Treating the director as a friend, parent, spouse…  Assigning certain attributes to the director and relating to the director accordingly: ! Being fearful that the director will be shaming and so withholding details/information ! Treating the director with disdain for no apparent reason ! Assuming the director won’t understand ! Becoming overly reliant on the director, etc.  Constantly being late or running over time *Similar dynamics can occur in the supervisor – director/supervisee relationship

EXAMPLES OF COUNTERTRANSFERENCE  Feeling like the director needs to take care of the directee  Romantic or sexual feelings for the directee  Feeling a need to please the directee  Running over time or being late to sessions  Feeling inhibited or intimidated by the directee  Feeling toward the directee in a way similar to the director’s parent, sibling, or any other person in director’s past.  *Similar countertransference issues may appear in the supervisor-director/supervisee relationship.

HOW TO WORK WITH TRANSFERENCE/COUNTERTRANSFERENCE  Notice any intense feelings, urges, tensions, body sensations. Any of those might suggest a transference/countertransference dynamic.  Take what you notice into supervision.  Use the information of the transference/countertransference in direction.  You may bring up the transference/countertransference to the directee in the form of noticing: “I’ve noticed that…” without blaming, shaming, or guilting…and without labeling what you’ve noticed as “transferene”.  Joseph Driskill (“Preventing Ethical Quagmires in Spiritual Direction”) posits that in spiritual direction, the transference is focused on God, so the directee can be invited to take any concerns, emotions, expectations, etc. to God in prayer.

OTHER DIRECTOR/DIRECTEE ISSUES  Blindspots on part of either director or directee with regard to the Dimensions or Arenas of Human Experience  The director not engaging in adequate self-care  Director’s skills need further development  Environment for direction is distracting  Either director or directee feel the match is not appropriate  Director or directee is experiencing major life crisis  Director or directee struggling with psychological or emotional issues  The director’s spiritual life is being neglected  Lack of understanding about directee or a psychospiritual tool/approach they are using  The directee feels s/he knows more than the director  The director or directee is struggling with issues of faith, doctrinal belief, theology  Director triggers past issues/trauma in directee or vice versa