ABSTRACT
Observation shows that the counterresistances usually coincide with resistances in the patient that concern the same situation. Sometimes it is as though there were a tacit agreement between analyst and patient, a secret understanding to keep quiet about a certain topic. Personal experience and reflection confirm what this feeling suggests and create the impression that such counterresistances become an important subject of analytic technique. The counterresistance (namely, the rejection the analyst felt against interpreting the patient’s desire to dirty him) indicated the patient’s most important transference conflict at the time. The anxiety and counterresistance were the expression of the analyst’s identification with the anxiety and resistance he sensed in the patient. The counterresistance was due to the fact that the understanding contained in the intended interpretation was incomplete. As soon as the analyst was able to complete the interpretation, the counterresistance disappeared.
