Countertransference in Therapy: How to Recognize and Use It
By Kristen McClure, MSW, LCSW | TherapistWorksheet.com
Countertransference is not a problem to eliminate. It is clinical information — if you know how to read it. Every therapist has reactions to clients. The difference between a therapist who uses those reactions and one who is controlled by them is awareness and a framework for reflection.
What Countertransference Is (and What It Isn’t)
The original Freudian definition — the therapist’s unconscious response to the client’s transference — has been largely replaced by a broader definition: all of the therapist’s emotional and psychological reactions to the client, regardless of origin.
This includes:
- Feelings stirred up by the client’s material (grief, fear, anger, attraction)
- Boredom, frustration, or dread in session
- Unusual levels of protectiveness or wanting to rescue
- Over-identification with the client’s situation
- Reactions to the client’s style of relating (flattery, hostility, dependence)
What it isn’t: every reaction you have is not countertransference. Sometimes you’re tired. Sometimes the session IS boring because nothing is happening. The skill is in noticing and asking the question rather than assuming either direction.
Types of Countertransference
Subjective countertransference
Reactions rooted in your own history, wounds, and unresolved material. A therapist who was raised by a narcissistic parent may have strong reactions to clients who remind them of that parent — or clients who remind them of themselves as a child.
Objective countertransference
Reactions that most therapists would have to this client — i.e., what the client tends to pull for interpersonally. A client with dismissive attachment pulls for closeness that the therapist may feel is being rejected. A client with chaotic presentations may induce anxiety in the room. This type of countertransference can tell you something about how the client relates in the world outside the therapy room.
How Countertransference Shows Up in Session
- Giving more advice than usual
- Avoiding certain topics or being reluctant to probe
- Losing track of time — letting sessions go long
- Checking the clock frequently
- Dreaming about a client
- Feeling special or uniquely important to this client
- Feeling helpless or incompetent despite clinical competence
- Strong pull to disclose personal information
- Sudden boundary violations or the urge toward them
Using Countertransference Clinically
Step 1: Notice
The first step is awareness — catching the reaction before it drives behavior. This requires enough reflective capacity to notice “I feel something here” rather than just acting on it.
Step 2: Sit with it
Before interpreting, pause. Not every reaction needs to be analyzed in the moment. Some reactions need to be felt before they can be understood.
Step 3: Inquire
Ask: Is this mine, theirs, or ours? Does this reaction connect to something in my own history? Does it tell me something about how this client relates? Or is it a relational field that we are co-creating together?
Step 4: Use it (selectively)
Some countertransference reactions become clinical interventions. “I notice I’ve been wanting to reassure you each time you express uncertainty — I wonder if that’s familiar.” Not every reaction gets voiced. The criterion: does sharing this serve the client’s therapeutic work?
Step 5: Take it to supervision
Strong, persistent, or confusing countertransference reactions belong in supervision. This is not a sign of clinical weakness. It is how the work is supposed to be done.
Countertransference and Ethics
Unmanaged countertransference is at the root of most ethical violations in therapy — from boundary crossings to premature termination to overidentification that distorts clinical judgment. You cannot eliminate countertransference. You can manage it. That management is an ethical obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is countertransference always negative?
No. Positive countertransference — warmth, protectiveness, pleasure in the client’s growth — is also countertransference. Both types require awareness and management.
What should I do if I feel romantic attraction toward a client?
Take it to supervision immediately. Attraction to clients is more common than therapists report and less shameful than the silence around it suggests. The harm is in acting on it, not in having the feeling. Supervision is the appropriate container.
Can countertransference damage a client?
Yes, when acted on or left unexamined. The most common damage is subtle: avoiding topics the client needs to address, colluding with defenses, or shaping the work around the therapist’s comfort rather than the client’s needs.
Should I tell clients about my countertransference?
Rarely and carefully. Disclosing your reaction can be clinically useful when it illuminates something about the relational pattern. It is clinically harmful when it makes the client responsible for managing your emotional state.
Kristen McClure, MSW, LCSW is a licensed therapist who creates practical clinical tools to help therapists navigate the hardest moments in their work.