Relational Perspectives Regarding Countertransference in Group and Trauma

Abstract

A relational/constructivist view incorporates contemporary trends toward viewing countertransference and co-transference as results of mutual intersubjective influence. It moves toward a view of the socially constructed nature of human reality, toward recognizing the therapist's as well as the members' irreducible individuality and initiative taking, and toward therapy as about meaning-making rather than scientific discovery of The Truth. General clinical examples, and examples of working specifically with trauma, are given.

Travma Mağdurlarına Yönelik Grup Müdahaleleri

“…2000). Psikodinamik grup müdahalesi; travma deneyimi ile başa çıkma konusunda kayıp ve kedere değinmenin önemini vurgulamaktadır (Rubenfeld 2005). Bu süreçte; travmatik deneyimlerin bilinçli farkındalığa bütünleşik bir hikaye olarak getirebilmesi önemlidir.…”

Reflections on Offering a Therapeutic Creative Arts Intervention With Cult Survivors: A Collective Biography

“…Because this group had been subject to coercion previously, we were aware that they might potentially struggle with making their needs known to facilitators and might be overly compliant or conversely overly resistant. Exploring countertransference (feelings that the therapist transfers to the clients) as part of the socially constructed meaning making of the group-therapy experience (Rubenfeld, 2005) might illuminate these processes and dynamics. The obstacles we encountered were difficult to foresee at the inception of this study, and so we concluded that a visceral yet reflexive first-person account of our varied experiences in our collective efforts might offer a useful perspective to researchers and practitioners who face the challenge of working with people who have been abused and coercively controlled within relationships and groups.…”

The Relational Perspective in Psychoanalysis and Group Analysis: A Comment on the Exchange between Dalal and Lavie concerning ‘The Lost Roots of the Theory of Group Analysis: “Taking Interrelational Individuals Seriously”!’ by Joshua Lavie (Group Analysis, December 2005)

“…This has given rise to an extraordinarily complex and pluralistic orientation, one which is proving to be generative. Rubenfeld (2005) summarises what for him is a credo of the relational psychoanalyst or psychotherapist, whether working with groups or individuals, which serves as a unifying principle:…”