Resolving Some Therapeutic Impasses by Disclosing Countertransference

Clinical social workers have been shifting their conceptualization of countertransference from the traditional classical modal of a one-person psychology nearer to a two-person psychology, thereby moving the ideal of the blank screen model to one of participant observation. With a two-person psychology now more in vogue, clinical social workers feel much more inclined to share some of their countertransference responses with their patients. Where there is limited consensus is embodied in the question: “Under what circumstances is countertransference disclosure most helpful to our patients?” This paper is an attempt to demonstrate through case vignettes how countertransference disclosure can resolve certain types of therapeutic impasses.