ABSTRACT
Attention to countertransference phenomena provides the therapist with information that can aid the search for answers to important clinical questions. It is through examining countertransference that the therapist's responses can be fashioned into a useful tool for understanding and containing the troubled and troubling aspects of the family system. Countertransference in family therapy with children is a response to a particularly broad range of stimuli. The therapist's ability to understand her countertransference reactions to children; using such tools as associations, memories, selfknowledge, and supervision can increase her empathy and understanding of the whole family and their struggles. The communication between therapist and family, and the therapist’s countertransference responses include an aspect of projective identification. Identification with the child, or children, in family therapy is a major source of countertransference. The wish to protect the child and oneself from the pain of a troubled family is often overwhelming.
