ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses, with the presentation of clinical material, the impact of the experience of loss in the countertransference when the therapist is working with patients who are inaccessible and/or hostile to his/her interventions. Countertransference, first considered as a disturbance of the analyst, is now recognized as a major tool in analytic work, and as an element of major importance in the interaction between patient and therapist. It is evident that feelings of loss in the patient have important implications for the countertransference. The chapter also discusses the experience of a specific feeling of loss in the countertransference. In the countertransference, the author experienced mostly positive, protective feelings towards this young man although his aloofness sometimes irritated him. The chapter shows the difficulties of such an endeavour and the pressure the therapist is exposed to collude with the patient's evacuative processes.
