Countertransference

When interacting with others, individuals have the tendency to associate their reactions, thoughts, and feelings, that occur during a conversation, to other individuals they know or experiences they have had. For example, I may meet a girl in a bar who reminds me of my ex-girlfriend, and thus, I cannot give her my undivided attention because I am too distracted with her similarities to my ex-girlfriend. When this phenomenon occurs in therapy, it is referred to as countertransference. Freud (1910) argued that, when it does occur in therapy, countertransference can have a negative effect on the therapist’s ability to treat the client. Therefore, as future therapists, it is essential to be able to recognize when countertransference occurs …show more content…
This individual and I coached together for two seasons and were fortunate enough to experience a high amount of success. During our time together, I noticed how much effort and passion he/she put into every coaching responsibility. Whether it was drills, pep talks, coaching third base, arguing with the umpire, etc., he/she went above and beyond any other coach I had ever seen. Moreover, after getting to know her/him, I began to learn just how important playing sports was to him/her while he/she was growing up. Specifically, he/she told me several times that playing sports was one of the only things that made them feel truly happy while growing up. Therefore, over the course of two years, I was able to notice how difficult it was for him/her to be a coach as opposed to a player. The loss of that time in their life was something he/she significantly struggled with when it occurred, and was still struggling with it during our time together. My reactions to the coach, then, were almost identical to my reactions to Ben. I felt pity because it was obvious that the coach truly missed playing and competing, so he/she took up coaching to cope, as it was as close as they could possibly get to the game. I felt