The Major Ways How Countertransference Manifest
“If loving you is wrong,” is how the song goes, but is that life. We realize in this day in age that more people are being accepted for being themselves. To love how they know how, but when is it ever not right or unprofessional? When we talk about the professional fields we think teacher or some think doctor. Really in this case, it could be any professional career. One of the biggest thing that happens in the professional field is countertransference. Countertransference is wearing the professional, such as social worker, has emotional attachments to his/her patient. In this essay, we will be discussing the major ways how countertransference manifest, signs that a therapist is experiencing countertransference, and dealing with moral dilemmas.
Countertransference can be caused by 3 different ways. The first is the patient displaying inappropriate behavior. Some patient act inappropriate for the attention or to distract themselves from their own problems.
The second one is responding in highly defensive ways. People like to vent without venting about their problems. Some people have just be hurt bad enough they don’t know how to treat people because they adapted to treating people a certain way, in cases like these you have to ensure the patient that you are there for their best interest.
The last way is losing their objectivity. This happens in most cases because their own conflicts are triggered. Having your problems triggers can slow down the helping process and soon if not dealt with can lead to countertransference.
It is also important for patients to realize the signs that countertransference is taking place. One of the signs is being overprotective with a client. Sometimes having feelings for someone can cause you to do irrational things. For say, injured someone because they looked at your client the wrong way. There are many ways to tell if you are in that position. Best things to do in those position is going to a different doctor.
Since I want to be a Social Worker. It is important to ask myself these questions and it’s important so I know if I’m ready or not. It is important to ask myself how I would deal with moral dilemmas. In these cases when we are talking about the professional field it is always best to do what is ethical, and when that is not possible make sure you can truthful ask your self is it worth it. Sometimes the things we pass off are the things that could have blessed us in the beginning. In closing, countertransference is something that is real. Something that is also serious when it comes to the patient care and growth.
Countertransference is something that might can’t be help but it can be controlled. Even if loving someone is wrong, make sure it’s for the right reasons. Understand that to make the patient better that patient to be with some who is not emotionally attached to them. Sometimes loving someone can be hard, but maybe never wrong.
