Analysis of counselling session
Analysis of counselling session
Introduction
Countertransference usually happens when someone says something to a person because they may have possibly triggered something from their past and their response to the person may triggers something back towards them (Gelso, 1995). So the person is now "counter" transferring it back to them - "basically returning" the transference feelings back to the other individual. The counselor interest in this subject derives from my own preference to use (or be used by) the transference process in the work. It likewise comes from the counselor’s personal experience of being on the receiving end of what the counselor has experienced as a counter-transference and abusive transference muddle. This paper is the counselor contribution towards giving a more useful understanding of the psychology of transference so as to change people's lives, for the better. With that said, this following paper will analyze the countertransference between the client and the counselor.
Counsellor: Hi, I am Laphu, your counsellor. I assure you that whatever we talk today will keep within us. So, how can I help you?
Counsellor: Ok Dolom, are you saying that you are having mix feelings that entangled with these entire sort and could not concentrate on your studies. What do you think your performances are so far?
In the first part of the session, the counselor felt that contact was being established already among themselves and the client as the counselor has been seeing this client for quite some time. The counsellor had picked this starting point because they felt that the client was enthusiastic about exploring their fear of the future, if they would be able to just manage on their own, and the anxiety it brings onto them. In the section, the counselor feels that they tried to respond to their client empathically, by letting them know how they understood that fear was keeping them from not performing well that semester and that this thought was scary to the client. A small part of this can be referred to as projection. Projection is considered to be the tendency to ascribe to another person, unconscious contents for instance thoughts, feelings, or attitudes that are present in one-self, or to regard external reality as exemplifying such feelings, thoughts, etc, in some way (Ligiéro, 2002). Basically, transference is the term that is normally applied to projection from a client to the therapist that most of the time takes place in the analytic setting (Kiesler, 2006).
The research shows that projection appears to be something that individuals do most of the time without ever realizing it (Ligiéro, 2002). Most people usually distort how they see and narrate to the outer world by laying over to the autonomous and dynamic images of their inner world, as well as all the feelings, wants wishes, beliefs etc that people can embody (Gelso, 2005). However, the contents of people’s inner world, or the unconscious, consist of not only elements from their past, but then again also what may be, their prospective. Additionally, people share a common, or psyche that is objective (Gelso, 1995). This psyche is considered to be part of being a human being. Most people have the same underlying archetypal or unconscious processes, myths or complexes and these too shape and influence our inner world, misrepresenting our insight of the outer world (Hoffart, A).
The counselor felt as though that they may have taken from their client’s time to be able to speak and maybe even taken her to a different direction because of the projecting. By also listening to it again, the counselor really felt that such responses are maybe coming from their own strong yearning to display to the client that the counselor understand them and furthermore not wanting to get it wrong which is part of the transference. Freud coined the term transference in order to describe projection that is going on in the analytic setting. Freud saw that his clients were transferring rudiments of their unconscious onto him (Freud, 1910). Freud saw this kind of transference as something that was an inconvenience, and unwanted because it has a tendency to keep getting in the way of his analytic method of utilizing free association. In counselor’s case, the clients mixed feelings were transferred unto them. However, in line with his philosophy of the unconscious he saw the transference required to be de-potentiated and supposed this could be done by setting up/inspiring another similar but dissimilar transference, in the arrangement of a transference-neurosis (Gelso, 2001).
In session 1, the counselor used the word ‘entangled’ to show my understanding of what my client is going through, trying get some things in order in their life without having to reach out for help. This reply is led by the interchange between myself and my client previous to the recording beginning where she was mentioning things that made her established for the future. The client used similar words a few times later on in the session and the counselor really felt that this specifies how close empathically they were to them when the word was utilized.
Counselor: I understand, what you are going through, you don’t feel like caught up together. You feel not worth of doing it. It makes you feel not rewarding for the moment.
The counselor felt that their client was feeling understood and used the phrase ‘I am just loosing for all together’ because they felt overwhelmed. Hearing that the client was understood, the counselor then carried on to show them their understanding of what she was talking about but at the same time was feeling the same sentiments. The counselor pressed on with them as though their paraphrasing of the issue was really their own. The counselor wanted to show their client that they were understood and at times that understanding, may have overshadowed the counselor from hearing how it is for them, and it could possibly take the client into dissimilar direction which is typical in transference (Bateman, 1995). The counselor felt that this actually reflects a therapeutic mistake on their part. This type of Counter-transference would therefore be deeply frowned upon in Freudian therapy, being seen as a pollution of the therapeutic space by reason of the consequence of the specialist being inadequately examined (Freud, 1910). Reason is that on occasions of me paraphrasing are calling out the issue was actually too helpful because the counselor was getting too sensitive to the clients concerns. According to Gelso (2001) the remedy is typically the requirement for the analyst to undergo supervision. However, Frederickson (2002) backs this up by mentioing that additional personal analysis is important when it comes to bringing resolution to relevant conflicts.
One may wonder if taking the client to a different direction such as talked about above, possibly takes away from the non-directive boldness the counselor was trying to have when they are counseling their clients “And I do not believe that it does”, as Kiesler (2006 p. 46) writes:” client cent red non-directivity has a lot to do with an attitudeattitudes are not just looked at as terms of behavior, even though they affect behavior. According to Etchegoyen (2002) they are described in terms of sensibilities, intentions, values and feelings.
In certain sections of the transcript, the counselor had used minimal encouragers in order to show that they are actively listening to every word their client is saying. The counselor responses are short:” Ok, there is no doubt in your mind this is that you have succeeded.” and “Ok, there is no doubt in your mind this is that you have succeeded.” meant to show that the counselor is following them and the second one in specific actually derived from the understanding the counselor had as the client talked about wanting to do better in previous sessions. The counselor made these kinds of replies because they actually wanted to be empathetic towards their experiences. However, the counselor might have been doing this in transference because the client was projecting how the counselor felt at the time or was feeling recently (Prasko, 2010).
Co-transference as talked about by Jung was an additional process taking place outside of the awareness/consciousness of both the client and therapist (Betan, 2005). It could (but need not unavoidably) be connected to the transference of the client, in that the transference, and the indications it created, could well be a more deceptive manifestation of this original process (Hoffart A).
With that said, the client appeared to be agreeing with the counselor, however, it is a likelihood that the counselor could have possibly taken the opportunity away for her to express dissimilar feelings. On reflection, the desire to show the client that the counselor remembered what they may have possibly mentioned in earlier part of the session comes from them needing to prove that it is significant to the counselor regarding what the client talks about therefore the counselor made it their duty to remember it. Of course, the counselor was fully aware that this could lead the client in a direction that was different and that as a counselor, should be really careful for even doing this which can because it can be considered a negative transference (Kiesler, 2006).
This kind of Co-transference can be looked at as being the cause (and significance) of these more adamant transference cases where the association is really constructed on mutual unconsciousness: “The patient by bringing an activated unconscious content to bear upon the counselor, constellates the conforming unconscious material in him, Counselor and patient therefore find themselves in a relationship originated on mutual unconsciousness.” (Kiesler, 2006 p. 24)
Again, the counselor believes that the cognitive way of thought of my client is showing by them saying:” I really have lot of confidence ” With my response to them, listening to it once more, I tried to understand them better and I asked:” What gives you the confidence ?” and then I went on by suggesting the possible explanations. I really feel that in way it sounds as though I am trying to ‘rescue’ my client. It would have been adequate to reply:” The counselor is wondering what makes the client feel confident?” Initially, the counselor believed that their client answered the question, but going back over the transcript, their answer was: “I can really motivate myself.” which does explore what gives them confidence. The counselor replied to them: “you said you had a hard head and a good way you set a mind to it?” And the counselor tried to understand what is behind her not being able to be motivated enough. The counselor is aware that their response to them could be looked at as being directive nevertheless, it came from their yearning to show them that they are trying to get what they mean which is common in transference (Friedman, 2000). In a lot of the session, the counselor has used the word “maybe” and similarly on few other instances they have used words for instance “if I understand you right .. from what I’m hearing” and looking back to the transcript, the counselor came to understand that it appears to be extremely vital to them for their client to recognize that they understand them without making it seem so obvious that there is a transference taking place. The counselor believes that this is their situation of value; the counselor can only be a cooperative counselor if they know that the client is aware that their understood which is commom in transference (Bateman, 1995). The counselor understands that they also have to be extremely mindful of not allowing their circumstances of worth have any kind of effect on the sessions and even more the result of the therapy session.
Looking at this transcript again, the counselor wondered if they were corresponding with their responses. Looking once more, the counselor feels that they were able to display to the client their sympathy with reflecting it back to them. It is possible, the counselor is not really sure whether they were all that aware at the time that the client did not discover what was not being motivated enough for them in their response, but if the counselor had that consciousness, a more congruent response for instance: “I’m just not sure I understand what makes you feel motivated” could have given them a chance to maybe explore the issue much more further.
Conclusion
Doing the analysis of these transcripts gave the counselor the chance to be able to look into their presence in the therapeutic relationship and imitate on what they brought in and how the counselor’s responses could possibly affect the relationship my client and the counselor have co-produced. The counselor really did feel with analyzing the transcripts that this analyses is a really fair representation of how hard they were trying to stay in their client’s frame of reference and listen and reproduce empathically what the counselor heard. Looking back to this segment of the transcript, the counselor did become more conscious of where their replies may be coming from and the counselor feels having this consciousness will aid them in becoming more confident, natural, and capable in my responses. The counselor really does suspect that if more individuals could recognize, involve with, undertake and work with the inferences of 'in person' consciousness. Only by truly opening ourselves to and submerging ourselves in the opposites will honest transformation take place. In this transcript, it is clear that the transference was taking place from the counselor because they had unresolved issues that have not been taking care of in their lives. The client seemed to have awakened some past experiences up in the counselor.
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