The Use Of Shame and Dread in the Countertransference

Much has been written about paranoid anxieties as these occur in the patient. Less, however, has been written about primitive experiences as these occur in the therapist during the session. This paper recounts a patient's correct articulation of the therapist's self-perception, which, because of its accuracy, initially flooded the therapist with shame and dread. Nonetheless, the patient's perception was able to be used in a way that clarified, in the countertransferance, a piece of the patient's early experience in relation to her mother and strengthened the therapeutic relationship.