Countertransference in successful and unsuccessful cases of psychotherapy.

Countertransference (CT) can provide psychotherapists with important information about relationship dynamics with clients, the therapy process, and clinical decisions. CT also can lead therapists to view clients and sessions inaccurately, feel unduly anxious, and behave in ways that primarily meet their own needs at the expense of clients. In summarizing existing scholarship on CT, Fauth (2006) noted the need for further research on therapists' subjective experiences of CT to enhance current understanding of this pantheoretical construct.

Processes and outcomes in prevention-focused time-limited groups for girls.

Processes and outcomes in 8-week prevention-focused, school-based groups for preadolescent girls were assessed in a naturalistic study. Specifically, whether such groups would facilitate their social-emotional development and whether affiliative processes in the groups were related to outcome were explored. In addition to expecting the groups to be effective, it was hypothesized that affiliative processes would be directly related to outcome and, more particularly, that increased positive affiliative feelings from the group toward the individual would be more predictive of positive treatment outcome than increased positive feelings from the individual toward the group.

Big ideas for psychotherapy training.

Research indicates that traditional psychotherapy training practices are ineffective in durably improving the effectiveness of psychotherapists. In addition, the quantity and quality of psychotherapy training research has also been limited in several ways. Thus, based on extant scholarship and personal experience, we offer several suggestions for improving on this state of affairs.

Toward more (and better) countertransference research.

This article addresses the definitional and measurement barriers currently inhibiting countertransference research and indicates new pathways toward meaningful and clinically relevant countertransference research. First, I review the countertransference definitional debate and advocate for the adoption of a moderate countertransference definition. Second, I review the extant countertransference research, with primary emphasis on measurement issues, and recommend new methods and instruments for assessing the construct.