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As we all know, there are times when countertransference reactions can be the bane of our work during the course of a treatment and, likewise, if recognized and properly managed, they can provide fruitful insights enabling us to move a treatment forward. In any event, countertransference is natural and unavoidable in the psychoanalytic situation. Likewise, psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy with children and adolescents present unique countertransference challenges. Although many contemporary practitioners might accept the above statements, they have not always represented a prevailing view of countertransference in psychoanalysis.
In this edited volume, Countertransference in Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents, Jerrold R. Brandell provides an enormous variety of material concerning the knotty and often misunderstood concept of countertransference. Included are the contributions of a group of distinguished psychoanalysts on topics of great importance to those who work with children and adolescents. Some are classic papers, such as “Hate in the Countertransference” by D. W. Winnicott . Others address contemporary themes such as the role that is played by racial and cultural factors in psychotherapy.
Brandell's excellent opening chapter provides a condensed but impressive historical overview of the concept of countertransference. He traces its origins, points out the paucity of information in the child analytic literature, and discusses several key differences between adult and child countertransference phenomena.
Brandell selected Winnicott's paper to be included as one of only two in the section on “classic” papers. (The other is by Ekstein, Wallerstein, and Mandelbaum on residential treatment). In so doing, he has invited the reader to reexamine Winnicott's imaginative insights concerning countertransference. Readers will find Winnicott's speculations food for thought in their own practices. Winnicott's work inspires increased intro