{"title":"The Analyst's Courage and Vulnerability in the Countertransference.","authors":"Melinda Blitzer","doi":"10.1057/s11231-023-09392-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Courage requires us to persist and persevere despite fear. We make choices everyday-some are courageous, and some are not courageous at all. This dimension of psychoanalytic work is significant, yet relatively neglected in the psychoanalytic literature. Maintaining a courageous stance as an analyst can be challenging and threatening. Often, the therapist faces deeply rooted fears about abandonment, envy, competition, anger, or other forms of intense emotional arousal. This requires us to confront ourselves but also, at times, confront our patient's behaviors. It is crucial to think and act independently, and deal with their disapproval and opposition, despite the risks challenging patients present. Ultimately, we need to manage our vulnerable feelings while remaining authentic, rather than hiding behind an overly clinical stance. The author presents two patients who required and inspired the courage to face her own anxieties, ultimately contributing to the treatments' progress.</p>","PeriodicalId":52458,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Psychoanalysis","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-023-09392-z","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Psychology","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Courage requires us to persist and persevere despite fear. We make choices everyday-some are courageous, and some are not courageous at all. This dimension of psychoanalytic work is significant, yet relatively neglected in the psychoanalytic literature. Maintaining a courageous stance as an analyst can be challenging and threatening. Often, the therapist faces deeply rooted fears about abandonment, envy, competition, anger, or other forms of intense emotional arousal. This requires us to confront ourselves but also, at times, confront our patient's behaviors. It is crucial to think and act independently, and deal with their disapproval and opposition, despite the risks challenging patients present. Ultimately, we need to manage our vulnerable feelings while remaining authentic, rather than hiding behind an overly clinical stance. The author presents two patients who required and inspired the courage to face her own anxieties, ultimately contributing to the treatments' progress.
期刊介绍:
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis is an international psychoanalytic quarterly founded in 1941 by Karen Horney. The journal''s purpose is to be an international forum for communicating a broad range of contemporary theoretical, clinical, professional and cultural concepts of psychoanalysis and for presenting related investigations in allied fields. It is a fully peer-reviewed journal, which welcomes psychoanalytic papers from all schools of thought that address the interests and concerns of scholars and practitioners of psychoanalysis and contribute meaningfully to the understanding of human experience. The journal publishes original papers, special issues devoted to a single topic, book reviews, film reviews, reports on the activities of the Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Center, and comments.