ABSTRACT
Professionals working in palliative and end-of-life care are regularly confronted with the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. People may unknowingly react to patient and family issues in ways that reflect their own biases, emotions, and life experiences-past, present, and anticipated future. The authors have named their most common countertransference reactions: anger and resentment; inadequacy and failure; powerlessness and lack of control; frustration and guilt; sadness and grief; fears of trauma, emotional pain, loss, dependency, and death; and desires to be needed, loved, and admired. If people ignore, defend against, or distance ourselves from these emotional reactions, we run the risk of 'helping' their patients back into the very problem areas for which they have consulted them. Awareness of countertransference responses holds enormous potential. It is through this personal-professional connection that we can understand the richness of patients' experiences.
