countertransference
KOWN-ter-trans-fer-EN-se
Definition
In psychoanalysis, the emotional reaction of a clinician toward their patient, which is used as a tool to gain insight into the patient's internal emotional state.
Etymology
Derived from the German 'Gegenübertragung', it was coined by Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century, combining 'counter-' (meaning opposing or reciprocal) and 'transference' (the redirection of feelings from a patient to a therapist).
In the news
The article uses the term to describe how trained psychoanalytic psychotherapists treat their own internal emotional responses as data, helping them identify subtle changes in a patient's psychological state during therapy sessions.
How does MDMA actually work? Our new study recruits psychotherapists to help answer that question
Read the full article ↗Drug Science