Falling in love with your therapist. On transference & countertransference
Ойын-сауық
Robert Rowland Smith and Mark Vernon discuss these two dynamics of projection. Transference and countertransference have become core to psychoanalysis, though Freud and others were initially very wary of them. So what are the limits to using the feelings that fill a therapy room?
How can the set-up of the room itself affect such things? How can transference and countertransference be unethically manipulated, not least when feelings of love are activated?
And also, how do these experiences relate to the uncanny, even so-called paranormal types of awareness and perception?
Пікірлер: 12
There is no therapy without LOVE and this shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for choosing this theme, very important❤
It is a risky business. It happened to me, falling in love with therapist and unfortunately the therapist could not safely handle these feelings. It led to boundary crossing which felt pretty crazymaking and nightmarish but luckily i terminated before anything really unfortunate happened. + I would love to hear more on the relationship between psychotherapy and religion
Therapy is a modern-day confessional.
@shellyjohnson7964
4 ай бұрын
Omg…. That is so good and so true 🫶
Great discussion. Perceiving transference as another potential force for change rather than a menace to be circumvented. Psychology seems especially afraid to ask such questions, in case it may open the possibility of believing that therapy was an art and as dangerous as life itself.
There are cultures where there is no taboo around loving or touching the person that you look to for healing. These cultures are hopelessly broken. I have to find my place in a culture that historically helped to break them. The question becomes - is my culture more broken or less?
Excellent conversation. I look forward to more videos.
Thanks for this interesting conversation, which I really enjoyed, despite my blatherings below. What is 'falling in love' ? Learned dependency & enjoyment of the interactions? Hero-worship & admiration? Do people equate sexual feelings of attraction / stimulation / eroticism with 'falling in love'? I've always felt a huge gulf of distinction. I no longer know what the overused phrase 'falling in love' means, since it's so often a trivial shorthand for merely 'fancying' physically, or else 'having a crush on someone' ie an intense, focussed interest or obsession, often (but not always) involving idealisation, desperately craving the attention, interest, admiration, affection, friendship of the object of the infatuation; even if clearly seeing their imperfections & criticising them. Some crushes last for many years! But do they = 'falling in love'? Isn't the latter much deeper & more serious an allegiance, empathic identification, loyal support, tolerance, forgiveness, self-sacrifice to help them, etc? Maybe I'm just being 'far too serious & analytical', as usual. I also question the atheistic, pseudo-'scientific' language & dogmatic assumptions underpinning all the dozens of defined 'modalities' & the guru-worship of their inventors. What is this 'objectivity' referred to so often? Surely we all have individual points of view, biases, prejudices, proclivities, moral constructs etc. Does most 'therapy' assume a 'view from nowhere' is even possible? I'm still v sceptical about it all: the language used shapes people's beliefs in 'healing', 'safe spaces', 'regression', 'wanting to be saved' etc ... the very terminology determines the focus of thought & often precludes other ways of looking at our experiences by fitting them into pre-set neat boxes. That's why I love the parts where you both jump out of the usual cliched doctrines & raise fascinating alternative, more expansive philosophical possibilities ... hopefully these will enhance & help develop the study of / care for the Psyche (the 'psyche' or soul that so many 'psych' 'experts' don't even believe in!)
Enjoyed this conversation with you, Mark :)
Wow- this conversation made me wonder if we create a space as parents for our children to feel and play and associate whether troubled deceased relatives spirits find a place to be seen and heard through the children. Transpersonal processes eh?
A reason I don't go to a male therapist. I think I'd develop feelings.
My problem is when I fall in therapy with my lover.