Countertransference of children's therapists toward mothers of children in treatment.
Item
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Title
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Countertransference of children's therapists toward mothers of children in treatment.
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Identifier
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AAI9000688
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identifier
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9000688
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Creator
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Edgar, Jill Ramsey.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Paul Wachtel
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Date
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1989
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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Countertransference of children's therapists toward parents of children in treatment has been seen as a powerful, potentially destructive force in therapeutic work with children. The history of the development of therapist relationships with parents of children in treatment is reviewed, as is the interdependence of structure of the parent-therapist relationship and common countertransference phenomena in this relationship, Previous writers have suggested that common elements in such countertransference may be automatic blaming of parents, overidentification with children against parents, over- identification with parents against children, excessive attempts to separate parents and children, competition with parents for children, the wish to take over as parent, acting out of oedipal triangles with the therapist playing the role of one parent, overtolerance of the child's behavior and a stirring up of feelings about the therapist's own parents with respect to the parents of the child in therapy. Little empirical work has been done in this area. In this study, twenty-nine therapists were asked to provide information about their feelings about the mother of a child they were treating over the course of one year. Therapist general feelings about the mother of the child were separated from therapist perceptions of the mother's practical support of the therapy. Outcome was rated at the end of the year. Therapist feelings about their own mothers, including their own mothers' practical support of their development as children, were also elicited. Results of this preliminary study were explored in a path analysis in which the impact of socioeconomic status of the child and the therapist's years of experience were partialled out. The analysis suggests that therapists who feel more negatively about their own mothers tend to feel more negatively about mothers of children they are treating. This effect does not appear to affect case outcome adversely, however. Case outcome was more negatively rated in cases in which the therapist had previously rated the mother's practical support of the child's therapy more negatively.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
