ABSTRACT
Examinations of the experience of the psychoanalytic therapist have traditionally fallen under the heading of countertransference and—for those authors who make this distinction— noncountertransference. The clinical processes of empathy and of projective identification also figure prominently in efforts to understand the arousal of identificatory experiences for the therapist. Whereas empathy is typically related to a therapist’s skillful functioning, projective identification is commonly associated with countertransference turmoil. In subsequent chapters we develop the argument that the processes of empathy and projective identification, far from being unrelated or even antipathetic, are in fact intimately related in a way that is critical to the fullest possible understanding of countertransference responses to virtually all patients. The strongest and most obvious link between empathy, projective identification, and countertransference is that all three involve the arousal of an identificatory experience—whether transient or enduring— on the part of the therapist.
