The Psychotherapist as Client

Since psychotherapists are themselves human, and thereby subject to the same psychic disturbances as their clients, it happens more than infrequently that they have to apply for psychotherapy in the same way as do their clients. At the same time they are receiving psychotherapy they of course continue to offer it to others. Perhaps it is because I am a senior member of the psychotherapeutic profession and have written a number of books on the topic that I have apparently attracted more than my share of such psychotherapist-clients.* It is because over the years I have been more or less dissatisfied with the outcomes of such treatment work that I felt impelled to write this paper as a way of coming to terms with my dissatisfaction. Possibly my work with psychotherapist-clients has not really been so bad, for I have a tendency to expect perfection in healers; but at any rate my experiences with these very special clients may be helpful to others who treat healers.

I want to make clear before going on that the psychotherapist-client discussed in this paper does not come for training purposes or for credentialing, although this may be a peripheral value to the experience. They were all hurting badly and needed help to continue to function in their customary way. Most had already had psychoanalysis or personal therapy as a part of their earlier training, but for others this was a first experience as client. It seemed to make little difference to their current client status, in so far as I could tell, whether they had had or had not had such preparatory analytic work.

There are major resistances to a psychotherapist seeking help from a colleague, and he may drag on for years before implementing the decision to actualize such help. There are also different resistances which become apparent after the psychotherapist-client has called the healer and has had an interview with him. The most vital of these prologomenon resistances is that the psychotherapist-client sees his image