FRUSTRATION, EXAMINATION, APPRECIATION: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF A PSYCHOTHERAPIST’S WORK WITH A CHALLENGING PATIENT
JUNE TYSON
Abstract:
Treating challenging patients can be a rewarding or detrimental experience for a psychotherapist. Countertransference plays a large part of the success of the therapeutic relationship. Countertransference is what gets stimulated in the psychotherapist in response to what the patient is experiencing. Countertransference includes feelings, thoughts, and sensations. If a psychotherapist has not examined his or her own issues of countertransference, the results can be harmful to both the patient and the professional. However, if a psychotherapist is aware of his or her feelings of countertransference, it can be used to bring about growth and development to the patient and the psychotherapist. This article is an autoethnographical account of a psychotherapist’s (my) experience with a challenging patient. It describes how I went through a process of frustration, examination, and appreciation as a result of a conflict between myself and the patient. I used a diary to record my feelings about the patient; this assisted me in confronting my countertransference and ultimately reconciling with the patient and using the experience to bring about healing for myself and the patient.
Keywords:
Countertransference, Authoethnographical, Frustration, Examination, Appreciation
DOI: 10.52950/SS.2021.10.2.004
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APA citation:
JUNE TYSON (2021). Frustration, Examination, Appreciation: An Autoethnography of a Psychotherapist’s Work with a Challenging Patient. International Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. X(2), pp. 57-68. , DOI: 10.52950/SS.2021.10.2.004
Data:
Received: 12 Jun 2021
Revised: 31 Jul 2021
Accepted: 6 Sep 2021
Published: 20 Sep 2021
Copyright © 2021, June Tyson et al, junetyson@gmail.com