Erotic transference and countertransference in psychotherapy: An empirical study

Abstract

Erotic transference and countertransference are key concepts within the psychotherapeutic process. Erotic transference involves the transference of the client's unprocessed erotic, sexual, or romantic content to the therapist, while countertransference involves the transference of the therapist's content to the client. The main purpose of this research was to illuminate the subjective experience from the perspective of both the client and the therapist, which we summarised in two research questions: 1) In what way do clients and therapists experience erotic (counter)transference? and 2) How do clients and therapists deal with feelings of erotic attraction in the psychotherapy process? 38 participants who had an experience of erotic (counter)transference in the psychotherapy process took part in the research, of which 20 were clients and 18 were therapists. To explore the research questions, we designed an online survey, and the content analysis method was used to analyse the data. Based on the answers about experiencing erotic transference, we formed three main categories (expectations and desires, experiencing emotions, experiencing bodily responses) with subcategories giving them codes in the form of quotes from the participants. The results show that unspoken or unconscious content can enter into the process, so it is crucial that therapists are prepared to talk about such content during supervision and gradually raise awareness of possible erotic content that they experience with their clients. At the same time, the goal should be to create a sufficiently safe therapeutic environment where clients can also talk about their experiences, which could then normalise their feelings and deepen the therapeutic relationship.