ABSTRACT

The author offers some examples explaining bereaved patients that typify the ways in which he experienced the workings and effects of countertransference in the therapeutic relationship. He began his new career in 1989 at an agency that provided both hospice and non-hospice-related bereavement support services. His caseload soon filled with people of all ages and walks of life. It was not easy to find the rambling brick-and-clapboard ranch house in the half darkness. When a patient brings a dream, it is a gift from the psyche, an offering that complements our conscious, waking-life perspective. In any effective psychological treatment the doctor is bound to influence the patient; but this influence can only take place if the patient has a reciprocal effect on the doctor. This kind of mutual healing comes in many forms. There are times when our 'existence in the room' conveys something ineffable, opening an opportunity for the experience and expression of deeply buried feelings.