Modern Countertransference Theory: Some Elaborations and Clinical Illustrations

The school of thought known as modern psychoanalysis has established a distinct body of theory and technique, which has produced a flowering of new attitudes and applications within psychoanalysis, especially in relation to the narcissistic patient. And it appears to have still more original ideas germinating and about to burst to life—for example, the ideas of Spotnitz and many of his colleagues on the anaclitic countertransference, which may well prove to be an entirely new way of thinking about one part of the transference/countertransference matrix.

At this point it may be worthwhile to look about us at the ground we stand on, and to consider the fertile soild into which these new seeds are to be sown.

The central achievement of the modern psychoanalytic work by Spotnitz and others, the application of psychoanalytic therapy to the narcissistic disorders, was built on original, pioneering work in the area of emotional induction and emotional communication, from patient to analyst and analyst to patient. Spotnitz's first public remarks on the usefulness of induced emotions in resistance analysis were made in a talk he gave in 1949 (Spotnitz, 1976). Spotnitz has said that examining his objective countertransference while treating schizophrenic and other narcissistic patients was a major factor leading to the modern theory as to the defensive purpose o these illnesses and to the formulation of interventions to be used to resolve resistances of narcissistic patients. The central task in the psychoanalytic method of curing the narcissistic disorders is managing the emotional processes between analyst and patient: being aware of