Resolution of a

Transference-Countertransference Impasse:
Using Gestalt Techniques in Supervision
Michael F. Hoyt and Robert L. Goulding
Abstract
Countertransference
Countertransference interference is a One way therapists often get stuck is in
problem often addressed in psychotherapy countertransference, which may be defined as
supervision. After a brief review of concepts, the therapist's specific reaction (counter) to the
a case vignette is presented to illustrate the patient's transference. This definition follows
development of a transference-countertrans- Freud's (1910/1957) original emphasis on the
ference treatment impasse. The rapid resolu- reciprocal nature of the therapist's reaction,
tion of the impasse via the use of Gestalt and it has the advantage of calling attention to
techniques in supervision is then described. possible information about the patient that may
It is emphasized that effective supervision be derived from the specific response
may involve a combination of both didactic stimulated in the therapist.
and experiential work in order to resolve the Other, more general definitions have
therapist-supervisee's countertransference identified any pathological reaction of the
contribution. Mental imagery techniques can therapist as countertransference. Erskine
be especially helpful for quickly producing (1982), for example, uses the term to refer
the powerful experiences that result in learn- to "all the reactions of the therapist to the
ing and change. client that are the result of the unresolved
conflicts within the therapist and may include
their [sic] beliefs, memories, and future
hopes and plans" (p. 318). This broader defini-
Supervision involves one person looking over tion highlights the fact that a therapist's
and instructing the work of another in order to counterproductive reactions may be de-
help the latter improve his or her ability and ermined by the carryover of his or her own
performance. Effective psychotherapy super- conflicts, the imposition of the therapist's own
vision combines didactic (explanatory) and transferences on to the dynamics of a particular
direct experiential work, depending upon the patient (Robertiello & Schoenewolf, 1987).
specific needs of the supervisee and the When considering a therapist's reactions it may
demands of the moment (Erskine, 1982; be useful to ask, "How much of this is ap-
Zalcman & Cornell, 1983). The supervision propriate to the present clinical reality, how
situation is, in many ways, akin to the much is imported by the therapist, and how
psychotherapy situation and may at times much is triggered by the patient?" The not-so-
parallel it. Supervisor and supervisee must easy answer may be some admixture of the
identify a focus or purpose for their work three, with further examination required to sort
together (the "contract"), and the supervisor out each person's relative contribution to the
and superviseethen need to identifyand address transaction.
three interrelated questions: (1) where is the It is important to note that counter-
supervisee-therapist' 'stuck, " (2) what does he transference episodes are not automatically in-
or she need to get' 'unstuck," and (3) how can dicative of therapists' personal treatment issues,
this be provided or facilitated? The answers to although therapists who keep getting stuck often
these questions will guide the work of or in the same ways are particularly likely to
supervision. be invested in script-bound behaviors or some

Vol. 19, No.4. October 1989 201

MICHAEL F. HOYT AND ROBERT L. GOULDING

A. Crossed Transaction (from Berne, 1972, pp. 14-17)

rtrensterence: "countenrensterence"
(Type I AA-CP) (Type II AA-PC)
therapist patient therapist patient

B. Symbiosis (from Woollams & Brown, 1978, p. 108)

transference/countertransference transference/countertransference
(Therapist's Child discounted and projected) (partial Adults, still unaware of racket)

o
therapist patient therapist patient

, A \

C. ProJection-Counteridentificatlon (adapted from Moiso, 1985)

patient's transference therapist's trsnsterence transference/countertransference
(projects Parent on to therapist) (complementary and mutually symbiotic
(projects Child on to patient)
projections/introjections)
therapist patient therapist patient therapist patient

(projected (projected (projected (projected

patient therapist patient therapist
screen) screen) screen) screen)

(Dotted lines denote ego states not cathected. see James, 1986, for discussion of the boundary problems
of excluded and rigid ego states.)

Figure 1. Three Models of Common Transference·Countenransference Reactions

202 Transactional Analysis Journal

 RESOLUTION OF A TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IMPASSE

unresolved personal problems. As Cornell and prominently by both participants in attempts to

Zalcman (1984) wrote, "Only if a trainee's er- maintain games and scripts by ridding
rors continue after options for understanding themselves of unwanted ego states or aspects
the clinical problem or for intervening with the of self (Chang & James, 1987; Moiso, 1985;
client are offered, do we presume that personal Novellino, 1984, 1985).
issues need to be confronted" (p. 109). Sometimes a therapist's compulsive
Berne (1972) recognized the bipersonal (two- "helpfulness" is motivated by the situation
handed) nature of countertransference. Using described by Masterson (1983):
the example of a seductive female patient, he What we do is project the image of our
wrote: own childhood self on the patient, and
Countertransference means that not on- then we become the ideal parent to the
ly does the analyst playa role in the pa- child, the child that we were; by doing
tient's script, but she plays a role in his. for this child what we wanted done for
In that case, both of them are getting ourselves, we feel better. A tremendous
scripty responses from each other, and amount of this goes into the motivation
the result is the "chaotic situation" which to be a therapist to "help other people."
analysts speak of as making it impossi- (p. 188)
ble for the analysis to proceed to its prop- Therapists and supervisors alerted by the
er goal. (p. 352) unpleasant feelings and lack of change usually
The "pull" ofthe patient's transference can associated with such a situation and who are
stimulate or evoke the therapist's own counter- attempting to resolveit will find it helpful to ask,
productive response. A countertransferential "Does this have to do with the therapist, or
reaction may be complementary to the patient's with the patient, or both?" (Goulding, 1978b;
transference (e.g., the therapist feels guilty or Hoyt & Farrell, 1983-84). If the stuckness has
becomes overly active in reaction to the pa- the quality of a transference-countertransference
tient's demands or neediness) and/or it may in- impasse, it is likely that the answer will be
volve an isomorphic or "concordant" iden- "both, " and the supervisor will be most helpful
tification (Racker, 1957) or "mirror" (Kohut, if he or she can help the therapist-supervisee
1976) to the patient's transference (e.g., the first recognize and resolve his or her own con-
therapist feels depressed and helpless in reac- tribution to the problem. This is illustrated in
tion to the patient's depression and the following case example.
helplessness).
A common countertransference problem may Case Example
occur when a therapist has a strong need to be The patient, a 40-year-old man named An-
needed or need to be helpful (Hoyt, 1985, thony, was intelligent, well-educated, good
1989a, 1989 in press). When a therapist fre- looking, creative, verbally articulate, sincere,
quently transacts from a Nurturing Parent ego and a self-described "neurotic mess." He often
state, the normal dependency of the therapist- felt depressed, stuttered, was frustrated by his
patient relationship may become exaggerated lack of career development, and frequently
into an unhealthy symbiosis. As Woollams and numbed and soothed himself in the evening
Brown (1978) stated, "When two persons are with alcohol and marijuana. He openly stated,
related symbiotically, one person expresses a "I never wanted to grow up. I hate being an
discounted version of feelings, wants and needs adult, all the responsibility. It's dull and
(cathects Child) and the other assumes a dis- endless. I would love to remain a child." He
counted caretaking or persecuting position had developed personality styles (Hoyt, 1989b)
(cathects Parent)" (p. 112). The interpersonal that combined pathological narcissism
structure for this overassumption of respon- (characterized by unstable self-esteem, weak
sibility, a form of codependency (Beattie, "I'm OK," too dependent on situation and
1987), is often a combination of both Type II other people) and dependency (characterized by
(AA-PC) crossed transaction (see Berne, 1972, helplessness and passivity). Several injunctive
pp. 14-17) and therapist-patient symbiosis (see decisions were prominent (Goulding &
Figure 1). The defense mechanisms of projec- Goulding, 1978, 1979) and had been worked
tion and projective identification may be used into a life script. For Anthony, these early

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MICHAEL F. HOYT AND ROBERT L. GOULDING

decisions included Don't Grow Up, Don't Be to do for the patient to pull him out of his funk,
Important, Don't Make It, Don't Be, and Don't a countertransferential assumption of respon-
Think. sibility. Empathy involves resonating with the
Six months of therapy had seen him complete feelings of another to know his experience, but
part of a significant project in his field of work. at this juncture the therapist had become quite
He was mostly pleased with the outcome, but overidentified with his patient. In addition to
he found the Adult demands terribly uncom- his complementary countertransference
fortable and had many moments of intense (therapist's Nurturing Parent rescuing patient's
doubt and insecurity along the way. He had a Helpless Adapted Child), the therapist also pro-
falling out with his best male friend during the jected his own Child feelings of scare and
work and his girlfriend had, through an ex- weakness on to the patient. Although basically
change of letters, also made it clear that she psychologically healthy, the therapist ex-
was not interested in continuing their relation- perienced the remnants of his own wounded
ship. Anthony became more depressed. He narcissism being activated. The therapist's
barely went to work, socially withdrew, desire to be "free" and anxieties about com-
stopped creative activity, thought passively of petency and feelings of being overwhelmed
suicide (a no-suicide contract was made and were stimulated by counteridentification with
rechecked as needed [see Drye, Goulding, & the patient and were based on both the im-
Goulding, 1973]), smoked marijuana and drank mediate therapeutic situation and several large
to escape, and generally felt and acted personal and professional responsibilities that
miserable. the therapist had recently assumed.
This turn for the worse concerned the All of this had been building gradually and
therapist, who felt increasingly impotent and out of awareness. The therapist experienced
stuck. From the beginning of treatment, the simply being increasingly stuck, of being more
therapist had been very attentive and to some and more concerned and less and less compe-
extent overly charmed by the patient's tent. He was able to recognize the transference-
friendliness, gratitude, artistry, and emotional countertransference nature of the bind and
sensitivity and vulnerability. The therapist felt presented to his supervisor at his on-going
a strong empathic contact. There were frequent training group a brief excerpt of a tape record-
invitations and temptations for the therapist to ing (made with the patient's consent) of the last
be helpful, to make practical suggestions and therapy session.
give advice, to function as a "rewarding
unit" (Masterson, 1983, p. 10). In retrospect, Supervision
this sometimes fostered the collusion of a sym- Didactic phase. The therapist introduced the
biotic "we" rather than requiring and strok- vignette saying, "I've got a countertransference
ing the patient's own development of greater problem" and indicated the patient to be a
Adult competency, thus encouraging further 40-year-old man seen individually. The
entrenchment of the patient's dysfunctional therapist then played the tape-recorded excerpt,
mode of being (Holloway, 1977; Oremland, transcribed as follows (with interruptions for
1972). The treatment contract was left vague comments).
and expressed and enacted more in terms of
"needing support" rather than making change. Pt: This week I've felt down, hopeless-type
Cogent here is Holloway's (1977) observation down. I'm very aware that I'm not dealing with
that "When the goal is specified by the seeker what I ought to be dealing with, I'm not con-
of change and when the therapist willingly joins fronting it. I'm just living it, being a fat, old,
the contract, then both can proceed as coequals. depressed middle-aged man. That's how I see
This minimizes the likelihood of counter- myself. I know that that's probably not your
transference interference and enhances work- view or someone else's view, but that's the way
ing through of transference processes" (p. I decided I am. Like, I get an idea, a positive
174). idea, something that I'll do-and I know all the
As he became more depressed, the patient rules, like "Feelings follow actions; if you do
would literally look to the therapist with something then you're going to feel better"-
pleading eyes. The therapist did not know what but, I've even given up on that because that's

204 Transactional Analysis Journal

 RESOLUTION OF A TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IMPASSE

not working. to recognize symbiotic relationships), the pa-

Th: Do you mean you're doing things but tient's nonautonomous language, his racket,
not feeling better? and the polarization of roles into Nurturing
Pt: Yeh. Well, not even doing things. It's Parent and Helpless Adapted Child. The
like, stuck, really stuck. You were talking about transcript does not convey as well the
tape-recording today, and I'm so negative to- therapist's stuckness, his overly concerned tone
day I don't even know if we can do anything. of voice, lack of spontaneity, and barely
Th: You've been down for awhile. restrained urge to rescue the patient. These
Pt: Yeh, I've been down for a long time. were commented upon by the supervisor in a
And, uh, I'm searching. It's like, I know it's constructive manner and recommendations
a pattern, this isn't crazy. I know it's within were made regarding treatment options with
my power to change. And at the same time I emphasis on the importance of stroking the pa-
don't have the motivation. I know it won't last. tient's Adult ego state for any positive changes.
I'll just slip back into the crap, so I might as The supervisor also cautioned against the temp-
well go on feeling crappy. That's the way I tation to rescue the patient and the possible con-
operate. I put diversions in my day to make it fusion of the patient's needs with the therapist's
through. needs and suggested making a diagram (see
Th: What do you want? Figure 1b) to keep visible in the therapy room
Pt: I don't know. I don't even have any as a reminder to avoid the symbiosis pitfall.
goals. I don't know what I want. I'm just tired The information was conveyed in a direct
of being stuck. Adult-to-Adult manner, and a break was taken
Th: Do you want to stop feeling so in the group supervision session. However,
miserable? while theoretically accurate and intellectually
Pt: Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm understandable, the information simply did not
[sigh], "Do I want to stop feeling so click for the supervisee-therapist. He still felt
miserable?" [asks self the question]. That's a stuck. He knew that he was unsettled and that
very simple question with no simple answer. something else was needed to get unstuck.
I don't know. I think I'm still pouting over last Experiential phase. After the break the
summer. I'm still pouting, thinking sort of, "If supervisee-therapist volunteered to be the
I stay miserable long enough, something will "client" in some experiential work. He began
happen." [racket] So I'm not, I don't think that by saying that he still felt "stuck" and
I am ready to stop pouting. Which is pretty "needing to clarify my position." What follows
fucking stupid! is a transcript of the ensuing work, which took
The supervisor recognized and pointed out about 15 minutes. The left column presents the
the emerging symbiosis (see Woollams and verbatim work, and the right column presents
Brown, 1978, pp. 123-124 for a list of ways highlighting comments.
SUPERVISION PROCESS COMMENTARY
Th: I've been thinking about him and this Therapist states problem, including his role,
symbiosis. As I visualize him I keep-let me with allusion to "mirror transference" (Kohut,
put it in poetic language-"falling into the mir- 1976) and counteridentification aspects.
ror." That is, as I see him I keep seeing how
many of his issues are issues that I'm still in-
volved with myself, enough that when he starts
to talk it activates my issues, I lose myself, and
it becomes hard for me to pull back.
I want to clarify myself more, to get myself Supervision contract stated.
more separate, pull myself out of the symbiosis.
There are times when I'm sitting with this pa-
tient and I can almost see myself in his chair.
Sup: Do you have an idea of how you want Offers therapist initiative, in effect giving him
to approach this? opportunity to take charge and clarify himself.
Th: I "understand" it intellectually, drawing Therapist indicates limited impact of intellectual

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MICHAEL F. HOYT AND ROBERT L. GOULDING

little circles and all that, but somehow I want explanation and requests more powerful ex-
to make it more real, reify it. perience to give concepts reality.
I keep corning up with a picture of this fellow Experiential process deepens, including emerg-
sitting in his chair, and I'm sitting in my chair, ing parallel process (patient/therapist=therapist/
and it's quiet much like it's quiet in here. And supervisor). Note empathy blending into nurs-
I sense his pain and emptiness. He feels lost ing fantasy.
. . . And the sense I have, the fantasy that
becomes conscious at times, is that I'm his
mother and wanting to cradle him and hold
him, nurse him, pat him [gestures with arms
like holding an infant]. I get stuck in this, I fall
into this with this one person.
[Therapist pauses, focuses attention inward.] Security of the supervision situation creates safe
What I'm getting is a sense of sadness. He's space to play and experiment, "to search for
crying and being sad. I then trigger in myself the self," as Winnicott (1971) says.
this small, very sad spot. I see myself as this
infant, this little baby. And I'm doing it, and
it's being stimulated in this situation by, I don't
know how to describe it. I feel like I'm ac-
tivating it. No, I don't feel like I'm activating
it. I feel like it's just happening, that I'm fall-
ing into it, even though I know I'm somehow
activating it. I don't know what to do with this.
Sup: Well, I do. Take your projection about Supervisor takes charge and models a way of
your client and be it: "I'm just a little child being with the therapist different from how the
wanting someone to hold me in my [sic] arms. " therapist is with his patient. The supervisor
Just what you said about him, claim for directs a basic Gestalt exercise, to own one's
yourself, because that's where you're stuck. projections. Note that what appears to be poor
grammar ("hold me in my arms") is actually
a literal, concrete expression of both sides of
the projected fantasy, Child held by Parent.
Th: Right, yeh. Intellectually agreeing but not really grasping
it yet.
Sup: So do it, claim it: "I want a mommy Supervisor continues to direct firmly, not ac-
who will blah, blah, blah," whatever you said. quiescing to therapist's incomplete response.
As you think about him, put it with "I." Getting therapist-supervisees to do things rather
than just intellectually "know" about them is
a common problem needing to be confronted.
Th: (pauses, then says with poignant recogni- With prompting from supervisor, therapist
tion) I'm wanting someone to take care of all begins to reclaim projected Child longings.
of these big, adult decisions that need to be
made, that are keeping me from being able to
play and not have to worry about things.
Sup: " ...be nurtured ... "
Th:. . . and be creative and .
Sup: " ... be nurtured." Supervisor guides therapist to experiment with
warded-off experience.
Th: (pause) ... be nurtured, but it's not so
much be nurtured as be free, to be able to
always do what I want when I want.
Sup: Say some more about being free and Supervisor adjusts direction in response to feed-
being taken care of. back from therapist, and continues to facilitate
amplification or deepening of therapist's

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 RESOLUTION OF A TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IMPASSE

inchoate experience.
Th: 1 would like someone else to take care
of business so 1can [pause] so 1can spend more
time dreaming.
Sup: More-carry it to as far a degree as you Calls for exaggeration to bring out richness of
can let your imagination carry you, about these experience.
being "cared fors."
Th: (pause, into reverie) 1keep getting little Slipping into the desired "free state" he was
flashes of moments, times when I've been describing.
traveling, like I'm walking down a street in
Amsterdam, or I'm climbing a mountain
somewhere. And they're just little moments,
but 1 feel it's a different part of myself, a very
different consciousness that 1 have.
Sup: You're leaving the business about be- Guides and structures, does not let therapist
ing taken care of. Get back to being taken care escape contract the way patient escapes respon-
of, that's where you were awhile ago. What sibility by slipping into fantasy and play. Super-
were the words you used about how you saw visor prompts for key words to re-evoke state
this guy? of mind therapist had been projecting.
Th: Empty, collapsing inside . . .
Sup: So, "I feel empty and collapsing in- Guides therapist to experiment.
side. "
Th: 1 feel empty, scared. (Pauses, tunes in-
to body sensation.) I've got a tingling across
my shoulders, like energy.
Sup: OK, let the tingle go, exaggerate it. Supervisor again encourages amplification,
(Therapist does, and sinks into chair.) You now following the therapist's experiencing
don't look energetic. You said you were feel- centered on bodily sensations.
ing energy. Allow yourself to feel the energy
that the tingling you said signified.
Th: No, that wasn't the right word. 1 felt like
a tingling, but 1 feel like this guy, like I'm sort
of getting weaker and collapsing.
Sup: Oh, you saw the tingling as getting Note adjustment and experiment.
weaker and collapsing. OK, so get weaker and
collapse.
Th: (slumps in chair)
Sup: And what do you want in that position?
Th: To be warmer.
Sup: Say more.
Th: 1 feel, my hands are real cold, 1 want
to be swaddled, wrapped up.
Sup: Yep. Can you exaggerate that position Supervisor validates experience ("Yep") and
some more, that infantile position, both in how again encourages exaggeration to enrich
your body is and what you're saying inside your awareness.
head? Play it out. See what you feel as you get
more and more.
Th: (collapses into cuddled up position, head
on arm rest of chair, makes small whimpering
sounds)
Sup: What are you experiencing?
Th: [softly] Fear and chills.
Sup: Huh?

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MICHAEL F. HOYT AND ROBERT L. GOULDING

Th: Chills, cold.

Sup: Now, take the opposite position, and Directs dialectic and encourages therapist's
get yourself out of there. self-empowerment.
Th: (lifts head, sighs, sits up straight)
Sup: Exaggerate it.
Th: (stretches, flexes shoulders, sits
straighter)
Su: And what are you experiencing?
Th: Strength . . .
Sup: Yeh. Validates change.
Th: . . . muscles through here (gestures
toward chest) particularly, power.
Sup: Stand up, and see what you feel when Amplifiestherapist's positive movement, builds
you stand up. on momentum, increases mind-body
congruence.
Th: (stands)
Sup: What do you experience?
Th: Not much. I kind of went blank.
Sup: So go back to the being nothing then. Follows the lead and amplifies, suggesting
Not nothing, but very small, caved in and all caricature to flood experience. Also note cor-
those other words you had. rection of language, more precisely directed
toward Don't Grow Up (rather than Don't Be)
injunction/script.
Th: (sits and resumes slumped, collapsed
position with head down)
Sup: And what are you experiencing now?
Th: A feeling of disappearance, wanting to
hold still and not be.
Sup: OK. How long do you want us [sic] to Choice of language (' 'us' ') suggests awareness
hold that position? Two minutes, 5 minutes, 5 of therapist's quest for symbiotic transference.
days, 5 years? Question implies initiative belongs to therapist,
and referring to protracted time heightens the
untenability of the stasis.
Th: (getting increasingly uncomfortable, Therapist begins to pull out of symbiosis, assert
physically and psychologically, in collapsed individuality ("Me"). Intensified experience
state, speaks softly) Me, I don't want to hold with unpleasant state generates organismic
it any longer. disgust (Simkin, 1976, p. 61).
Sup: What? Calls for louder, clearer, more forceful posi-
tion from therapist.
Th: No longer for me!
Sup: All right, then get out of it! Protection, permission, potency.
Th: (sits right up, laughing with relief and
recognition)
Sup: What do you experience? Encourages verbalization of experiential
recognitions.
Th: I feel more present.
Sup: Yeh. Positive stroking.
Th: I'm (looks around), I'm seeing my legs
more, I'm in the room more.
Sup: Yeh, OK. Feel your power? More stroking.
Th: Yeh!
Sup: OK, now tell this guy what you're go- Learning = change as a result of experience.
ing to do with him. There he is out in that chair, Therapist's experiential work is now linked

208 Transactional Analysis Journal

 RESOLUTION OF A TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IMPASSE

even got his back turned to you partially, that's back to supervision contract, to expedite
the way he sits, I think. changes in his work with patient, specifically
to resolve symbiotic impasse.
Th: (pauses, forms image of patient in chair)
Anthony, what I'm going to do is be your
therapist and not your mother.
Sup: Yeh! (training group claps approval). Positive stroking, reinforced by group
(Goulding, 1987).
Th: I'm going to assist you and stroke you
when you make improvements in your func-
tioning. And I'm going to wait, sometimes pa-
tiently and sometimes impatiently, for awhile
while you're getting yourself together to do
that!
Sup: OK. Satisfied? Checks to see if there is more work to do at
the present time.
Th: Yeh! (pause) That makes very real those Links experiential and didactic learning. Com-
circles! (happy laugh) pleting work in an upbeat, winner position adds
energy and makes learning more memorable.
Sup: Yep! (laughs) Having fun makes for better supervision.

Follow-up
therapeutic issues that need attention: "Any
The effects of this supervisory episode were feeling, then, of the therapist toward the pa-
immediate, powerful, and enduring. The tient that could be labelled countertransference
therapist felt (self-)empowered and functioned can be used by a properly trained and skilled
more effectively with his patient in subsequent therapist" (Goulding, 1978a, pp. 185-186).
therapy sessions. He felt freer, in good con- "Furthermore," as Binder, Strupp, and
tact yet more separate, and maintained a sup- Schacht (1983) noted, "attention to counter-
portive attitude that was respectful of the pa- transference aspects of the . . . therapy situa-
tient's abilities and clearly emphasized the 1- tion is essential to establishing and maintain-
Thou nature of their relationship. Anthony ing a productive alliance with those especially
responded well and began to reclaim and act 'difficult' patients whose predominant relation-
upon his autonomy. It is beyond the scope of ship patterns would otherwise strain the
this paper, of course, to detail the subsequent therapist's skill" (p. 622).
course of therapy. What has been illustrated In the supervision work described here, by
hereabout supervision is what Whitaker (1983) having the supervisee-therapist verbally and
said well: "Learning only brings recognition; nonverbally exaggerate his initially ineffable
experience produces change" (p. 40). stuck experience, he was able quickly to inten-
sify it sufficiently to recognize and reown his
Discussion contribution to the therapeutic impasse. A
The specific treatment impasse in the case therapist and supervisor who sought to master
presented here, having to do with a confusion countertransference by its suppression or affect
of dependency and responsibility, is only one reduction would be less likely to resolve the
of many possible countertransference problems therapist's underlying contribution, neither
thatmay require skillful supervision to resolve. rapidly nor perhaps at all. A direct experien-
Indeed, the inevitability of countertransference tial approach can be especially helpful for cut-
responses and the potential for problems have ting through the intellectualizing and "know-
long been recognized (Freud, 1910/1957, pp. ing about" rather than "being" that frequent-
144-145; lung, 1931/1966, p. 72). Acknowl- ly occurs when therapists become patients or
edged and used appropriately, counter- trainees (Kaslow, 1984). Techniques that in-
transference responses can spotlight volve enhanced expressiveness through the

Vol. 19, No.4, October 1989 209

MICHAEL F. HOYT AND ROBERT L. GOULDING

exaggeration of subtle nonverbal cues also may ly and inappropriately yielding to invitations
be particularly useful for bringing into toward symbiosis. Finally, there is the
awareness transference and countertransference TA/Gestalt method itself: The therapist-
responses based on preverbal experiences. supervisee finds the power within himself (not
Patients and therapists will benefit more from primarily a supervisor) and is thus directed
a treatment or supervision that provides ex- toward his own unique ability.
perience as well as explanation, power and
wisdom combined. The use of treatment ap- Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., is a Regular
proaches in supervision appears consistent with Member ofITAA. He is Director ofAdult Ser-
much of TA training practice, as reviewed by vices, Department of Psychiatry, Kaiser-
Zalcman and Cornell (1983): "Unlike Permanente Medical Center, Hayward, CA;
academic training, the resolution of personal and Associate Clinical Professor at the Langley
therapy issues has been consistently emphasized Porter Psychiatric Institute, University of
and frequently integrated into the [TAl super- California, San Francisco. He also maintains
vision session itself' (p. 113). Doing such a private practice ofpsychotherapy and super-
work requires strong ethical safeguards, of vision in Mill Valley, CA, where he resides.
course, including strict confidentiality, no Please send reprint requests to Dr. Michael
performance-contingent grading or degree Hoyt, Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center,
granting, scrupulous attention to possible games Department of Psychiatry, 27400 Hesperian
supervisors and supervisees sometimes play Blvd., Hayward, CA 94545, U.S.A.
(Hawthorne, 1975; Kadushin, 1968), and clear Robert L. Goulding, M.D., is a Clinical
supervision contracts (Barnes, 1977). Teaching Member ofITAA. He is Co-Director
A last point has to do with the possible ofthe Western Institutefor Group and Family
parallel process (Ekstein & Wallerstein, 1972; Therapy in Watsonville, CA, and a Past-
Frances & Clarkin, 1981; Hess, 1980) wherein President of the American Academy of
aspects of the patient-therapist relationship may Psychotherapists. He and his wife, Mary
be repeated in the therapist-supervisor relation- Goulding, received the 1975 Eric Berne Scien-
ship. Elements of this occurred in the supervi- tific Awardfor their contribution regarding in-
sion described here: the immobile, stuck junctions, decisions, and redecisions.
therapist looked to the supervisor with a passive
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Vol. 19, No.4, October 1989 2lJ