The therapist's unconscious emotional reactions and responses to a client, often triggered by the client's behavior or the therapist's own unresolved issues. It can either help or hinder the therapeutic process.
Coined by Freud around 1910, adding the prefix 'counter-' (opposite or in response to) to 'transference.' Initially seen as an obstacle to therapy, it's now understood as valuable information about both the client's impact on others and the therapist's own psychological processes.
Counter-transference is like the therapist's emotional radar system—their feelings can reveal important information about what the client evokes in others! Modern therapy training teaches therapists to use their emotional reactions as diagnostic tools rather than ignore them.
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