ABSTRACT
Counter-transference is a phenomenon in the relationship between the patient and the therapist in which the therapist's reaction to the patient parallels the patient's transference reactions to the therapist; it is the counterpart to the patient's transference reaction. The key to recognizing countertransference reactions in the analyst has to do with the inappropriateness of the reaction. Ordinarily in one's analytical work one finds oneself paying interested attention to the utterances and behavior of the patient on the couch. Anger, sexual feelings, boredom, sleepiness, restlessness and uncontrollable laughter are all indications of the possibility of countertransference. Dreams about one's patients and, particularly, repeated dreams are usually indications of some stirring of one's past neurosis by the patient. The other potential danger of a countertransference reaction is that the analyst does not thoroughly and systematically analyze the transference. A frequent cause of stalemated situations in an analysis is often countertransference.
