ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between how therapists have worked with personal 'wounds', and how they support their clients in confronting their own struggles and conflicts. A therapist's particular physical characteristics, shape, size and weight, will inevitably impact clients with eating and body image problems in varied ways, and is likely to play a part in the unconscious dynamics of the therapeutic process. The recovered therapists in the study spoke about the importance of recognising and 'bracketing' their countertransference feelings and personal issues when these come up in the therapy room. It is essential that all recovered therapists have explored their own embodied experiences and/or eating issues in personal therapy to ensure they feel 'recovered enough' to work safely and ethically with individuals presenting with eating disorders and body image disturbance. The process of containing one's countertransference reactions also enables the therapist to develop some clarity about their source and significance.
