Triumph or Disaster?: A Relational View of Therapeutic Mistakes

Abstract

This article discusses the importance of the therapist bringing his or her whole self into the therapeutic relationship in a fully human, imperfect way. Through two case examples the author demonstrates that if therapists work in the transferential relationship and allow themselves to be both impactful and impacted, mistakes will be inevitable and can provide creative therapeutic opportunities. Theories about therapeutic ruptures from transactional analysis and the wider psychotherapy field are presented, and the advantages and risks of working relationally in this way are described.______

Failing to Do the Job

“…This situation, as unsettling as it was, could have been an impasse or period of enactment that could have served the treatment (Cornell, 2012; Cornell & Landaiche, 2006; Kantrowitz, 1996; Little, 2012; McLaughlin, 2005; Stuthridge, 2012). Contemporary therapeutic tales of impasses and enactments in the transactional analysis literature have often portrayed difficult moments in treatment that led to insight and transformation (Cook, 2012; Maquet, 2012; Murphy, 2012; Novak, 2015; Shadbolt, 2012; Stuthridge, 2012, 2015). But the crisis with Samantha proved to be much more catastrophic than informative or reparative.…”

Failure and Shame in Professional Practice

“…Cook (2012) described a more complex situation, with her client idealizing her and acting the helpless victim while Cook swung between rescuer and persecutor roles. All the while, she faced the actual risk of the client, who was dangerously ill with diabetes, dying.…”