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Narcissistic vulnerability is a ubiquitous burden of man, a part of the human condition from which no one is exempt.
The study of countertransference is a central and vital facet of any psychotherapy process that is aimed at exploring, illuminating, and transforming the subjective world of the patient. Its use remains a fundamental and
inextricable component of any analytic experience (Maroda, 1991). Like its conceptual counterpart transference, countertransference generally has worked its way into most theoretical disagreements over the last 100 years.
Postmodern psychoanalytic perspectives are particularly conducive to the study of countertransference experience. Especially in light of continuing emphases on the intersubjective dimensions of the patient—analyst relationship, reflection upon countertransference experience plays a central role in unfolding and elucidating the invariant organizing principles of patient and analyst alike. This occurs via focusing on the discovery of “truth” and “reality”1 that are pluralistic, dynamic, perspectival, and subjective (Mitchell, 1994).
In this introduction, I will briefly touch upon the countertransference-related notions of projective identification, unconscious communication, and narcissistic injury, each a vital topic of investigation in its own right. Following this section, I will elaborate upon these concepts and then define and develop the notion of affective intersection. Finally, I will utilize case material