Comprehensive exams for Mental Health Q 204
Nurse Myrna develops a counter-transference reaction. This is evidenced by:
A. Revealing personal information to the client.
B. Focusing on the feelings of the client.
C. Confronting the client about discrepancies in verbal or nonverbal behavior.
D. The client feels angry towards the nurse who resembles his mother.
Correct Answer: A. Revealing personal information to the client
Counter-transference is an emotional reaction of the nurse on the client based on her unconscious needs and conflicts. Countertransference is defined as redirection of a psychotherapist’s feelings toward a client – or, more generally, as a therapist’s emotional entanglement with a client. Just as transference is the concept of a client redirecting feelings meant for others onto the therapist, countertransference is the reaction to a client’s transference, in which the counselor projects his or her feelings unconsciously onto the client. How countertransference is used in therapy can make it either helpful or problematic.
Option B: It is important for the therapist to understand the role that of transference and countertransference, and deal with those emotions in such a way that the core of the counseling relationship is not shattered by these feelings. Once countertransference is recognized, it is important that the therapist acknowledge and work through those feelings.
Option C: This is a therapeutic approach. The idea of countertransference — the counselor’s unconscious feelings that emerge as a result of working with the client — is most often attributed to Sigmund Freud, who was the first to name the phenomenon and caution other analysts to manage it within themselves. Some suggest that categorizing countertransference as part of the “psychodynamic approach” has made its understanding more difficult, particularly with the rise of other counseling styles that may not emphasize self-awareness and exploration.
Option D: This is a transference reaction where a client has an emotional reaction towards the nurse based on her past. Signs of countertransference in therapy can include a variety of behaviors, including excessive self-disclosure on the part of the therapist or an inappropriate interest in irrelevant details from the life of the person in treatment. A therapist who acts on their feelings toward the person being treated or that person’s situation or engages in behavior not appropriate to the treatment process may not be effectively managing countertransference.