Classification of Countertransference for Utilization in Supervision

Supervision of countertransference has been problematic for a number of reasons. Countertransference has had many different meanings and negative affective connotations associated with it. Conflict has existed over whether it is a subject more appropriate to personal therapy than to supervision. The absence of a single consistent conceptual framework to define and clarify these problems has contributed to them. This paper proposes a classification of countertransference into six types of phemonena: concordant identification, complementary identification, interactional reactions, life events, institutional countertransference, and classical countertransference. Examples from supervision of psychiatric residents are used to illustrate the utilization of this classification.