ABSTRACT
The concept of counterresistance was introduced by Racker (1958). Often in analytic work we do not communicate to the patient some of our observations and our understanding of the psychodynamic process. Sometimes this abstention seems appropriate given one’s understanding of group technique; at other times, an emotive factor is at play, which is not conducive to an intervention, since one perceives the risk of setting in motion an undesirable process at that moment in the treatment. Resistances on the part of the psychotherapist, referred to as counterresistance, usually coincide with the patient’s resistance to the same situation, highlighting the most important areas of conflict for the patient. In other words, counterresistance is defined as the expression of an identification on the part of the analyst with a resistance of the patient, even when, at the same time, it relates to the analyst’s own areas of conflict. It differs and is distinct from countertransference, since as a concept, it specifically refers to the manifestations of resistance that occur during treatment.
