The client's affective impact on the therapist: Implications for therapist responsiveness

Affective authenticity, a modulated, shaded registration of a client's affective impact on the therapist, may provide one component of a reparative opportunity in therapy. Building on infant studies that indicate early forms of sociability and empathy, the author argues that having an impact is a lifelong need. She draws on feminist critiques of abstinence to support her view that therapy can repeat the power imbalances characterizing many clients' historical contexts, if the therapist does not respond to her client's affective influence in an attuned way. A case example of a client with AIDS illustrates some of these ideas.