Mindfulness and coping with countertransference in psychotherapy

Abstract

In psychotherapy over the last few decades mindfulness has become an increasingly important element  that psychotherapists incorporate into their work. The purpose of this  paper is  to illuminate and recommend the use of mindfulness among psychotherapists, as a way of self-care and as an important technique in dealing with countertransference reactions to clients.  A review of studies in the field of countertransference and mindfulness  showed this  important finding: therapists with consistent practice  gain abilities and skills that can be applied outside of the psychotherapy process itself as health maintenance strategies. These include  being present, empathetic, and client-aware, as well as the control of emotions and the ability to deal with countertransference. The latter is necessary for maintaining a quality therapeutic relationship with patients and achieving desired therapeutic outcomes. It mostly refers to the techniques the therapist uses to control (avoid or ease) personal responses to the client's content. These are not dangerous by themselves, but unprocessed they can be. When dealing with such  contents, mindfulness has proven to be particularly effective since it promotes an open and receptive attitude towards inner experience (such as experiencing countertransference) and the development of skills like self-insight, empathy, and anxiety management. The most common ways of  dealing with countertransference are in  raising awareness, explanation and solving the problems associated with them. In addition to processing and dealing with countertransference, at the end of the paper, we briefly present a relatively modern method – mindful processing method.