Specific skills and knowledge are essential for a social worker working with children. Understanding transference and countertransference is crucial to a healthy therapeutic relationship. Both transfe
Discussion 2: Transference and Countertransference
Specific skills and knowledge are essential for a social worker working with children. Understanding transference and countertransference is crucial to a healthy therapeutic relationship. Both transference and countertransference can be evident in any client–therapist relationship, but are especially important in working with children because of a common instinct among adults to protect and nurture the young. The projection or relocation of one’s feelings about one person onto another, otherwise known as transference, is a common response by children (Gil, 1991). Countertransference, a practitioner’s own emotional response to a child, is also common.
For this Discussion, review the Malawista (2004) article.
Provide response to the colleagues posts which are included below.
who identified strategies different from your own by proposing alternative strategies.
Support your posts with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Teaira BJ
RE: Discussion 2 - Week 8
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Your explanation why transference and countertransference are so common when working with children.
Transference and countertransference are coming when working with children because of the “authoritative” role that adults naturally take. Children are considered to be amongst the vulnerable population and is easy to take the initiative of “control” when working with children. In most scenarios, children may not understand and may expect to be directed. Also, due to having to receive consent, a child’s “voice” may be what the parent is saying, opposed to what the child is actually saying. According to Christogiorgos, S. et al. (2014), due to parents’ presence being obvious in the phase of treatment planning, parental presence influences from the very beginning, both the setting and the therapist’s function.
Identify some strategies you might use to address both transference and countertransference in your work with children.
As a social worker, it’s imperative to not be oblivious of the impact and influence you have on client’s that are children. As mentioned, children are amongst the vulnerable population that we serve, therefore it is natural for them to be influenced or be “structured” into saying what the therapist wants them to say. As referenced by Christogiorgos, S. et al. (2014), parents are always present and have influence from the beginning. I would inform the parent of the impact that they have on their child and inform them that it is not conducive to the treatment they are receiving if it’s the parent’s input. I would encourage them to be supportive of their child but “less present”. Research shows that children communicate nonverbally to a greater extent than adults, through drawings, play, dollhouses, and clay (Christogiorgos, S., 2015)
Reference:
Christogiorgos, S., & Giannakopoulos, G. (2015). Parental presence and countertransference phenomena in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of children and adolescents. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 22(1), 1-11.
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Ashley Head
RE: Discussion 2 - Week 8
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Transference and countertransference:
Malawista (2004) stated, "for many in the 'healing professions' the choice of being a therapist may be based on a powerful unconscious rescue fantasy" (pg. 376). When working with children, therapists can have fantasies about rescuing the child from parents who appear to have caused the suffering and children can then also have fantasies about being rescued by someone who will treat them better than their parents. These fantasies can become complementary and result in the enactment of an unconscious motivated behavior of the therapist which was unconsciously provoked by the child (Malawista, 2004). When working through the transference and the underlying meaning from the child, a countertransference response from the therapist can be elicited if there is a related personal issue or maternal instinct to protect from harm.
Strategies:
Strategies to address both transference and countertransference including maintaining neutrality when analyzing a child's underlying transference meanings and working through the countertransference that may arise through supervision (Christogiorgos and Giannakopoulos, 2015). When parents are involved, transference exists and if it is too involved, interpretation of the emotions and fantasies must be done in order to understand the actual experiences that may have been damaged in the child's fantasy or reality. Countertransference can also be utilized as a positive when effectively addressed and recognized by being able to understand the child's internal reality, resistance, and experience along with the intensity and nature of any external experiences that have occurred within the family (Christogiorgos and Giannakopoulos, 2015).
Resources:
Christogiorgos, S., & Giannakopoulos, G. (2015). Parental presence and countertransference phenomena in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of children and adolescents. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 22(1), 1-11.
Malawista, K. L. (2004). Rescue Fantasies in Child Therapy: Countertransference/Transference enactments. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21(4), 373-386.
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Kasey Brain
RE: Discussion 2 - Week 8
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The child’s needs or inner conflicts can produce transference resulting in an inappropriate attachment to a newly identified “good object” (Malawista, 2004). Freud (as cited by Malawista, 2004) wrote about the idea of the family romance in which the child’s response to being disappointed by their actual parents would be to create their own idealized version of them. In this scenario, a therapist adopts the role of the idealized version of the child’s parents. Countertransference occurs when a therapist falls into the role of a rescuer (Malawista, 2004). Because of the dynamics in the relationship between the child and therapist, a therapist could easily slip into the role of a rescuer. Countertransference may cause the therapist to express hostility toward the parents due to a strong attachment to the child and the child’s views. The parents could be seen as “bad objects.” Countertransference and transference can damage the therapeutic process because it distorts the therapist’s views of the family and their own role in the process. The therapist will likely miss an opportunity to assist the family and cause additional harm.
A strategy to prevent countertransference and transference is to first be aware of oneself. With self-examination, a therapist will learn to identify their own triggers and vulnerabilities. “Therapists must remain open to self-discovery with all the challenges that accompany it. Only in this way, they suggest, can therapists hope to understand their patients better” (McTighe, 2011, pg 2). Being knowledgable about self will help a therapist prepare for many situations. It is also important to know that every individual in a family has their own view of the presenting issue. Before any decisions are made a therapist should seek information from all parties involved. The issues along with all contributing factors must be identified.
References:
Malawista, K. L. (2004). Rescue Fantasies in Child Therapy: Countertransference/Transference enactments. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21(4), 373–386. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1023/B:CASW.0000035222.16367.32
McTighe, J. (2011). Teaching the Use of Self Through the Process of Clinical Supervision. Clinical Social Work Journal, 39(3), 301–307. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1007/s10615-010-0304-3
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