Resolving Counterresistances In Psychotherapy

Book excerpt: Widely acclaimed for his insightful book on resolving patients' resistances in psychotherapy, Dr Strean now addresses the virtually neglected problem of therapists' counterresistances - the fantasies, defenses, and other elements of the therapist's own psychological makeup that can impede the therapeutic process. At the core of this book is a crucial question: If the therapist cannot or will not confront his or her own resistances, how can the patient be expected to?; The book begins with a clear conceptualization of counterresistance in psychotherapy. Subsequent chapters focus on the ways in which counterresistance manifests itself in the initial, middle, and closing phases of therapy. Case vignettes delineate essential features of various tupes of counterresistance and show how and when to combat them.