Trauma in the Transference—Repairing the therapeutic relationship

Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

Craig Heacock MD

Psychiatry, Bipolar, Suicide, Depression, Ketamine, Psychotherapy, Science, Psychedelics, Health & Fitness, Addiction, Medicine, Psychology, Mental Health

4.8 • 452 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The magic of psychotherapy is that it brings forth transference— the patient’s most important and formative relationships, typically with early caregivers, are unconsciously re-enacted in the therapy room. And this transference necessarily creates countertransference, the therapist’s unconscious reactions to the transference. Alexandria came to Dr. H originally due to her severe harm OCD. But over time, it became clear to him, and eventually to her, that she was increasingly, and unconsc...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Back from the Abyss. I'm Dr. Craig Hecock.
0:18.0	Before we get to today's story, I wanted to read an email I got a few days ago
0:22.2	about the last episode, the Stephanie episode. Here it goes. Hi, Craig. I want to thank you for
0:28.6	allowing Stephanie to share her moving personal account of being suspected of murder and how her
0:33.5	feelings of mistrust, fear, and cynicism about others grew, haunting her years after the
0:38.3	initial investigation occurred. She eloquently described how the experience of being wrongly
0:43.6	accused led her to believe that her life didn't matter, as the police continued to corner and
0:47.8	question her without evidence. It was painful and infuriating to consider her powerlessness,
0:52.9	in contrast to the benefit of the doubt
0:54.7	given to the police. It was also moving to hear about her path towards healing and acceptance
1:00.1	and integration. Now, maybe I'm being presumptuous, but in listening to the podcast, I assumed
1:05.4	that Stephanie was white, and that is true. Stephanie is white. Although her race was not mentioned,
1:10.6	as I listened to Stephanie, I thought about how she was articulating nuanced emotional terrain that is true. Stephanie is white. Although her race was not mentioned. As I listened to Stephanie, I thought about how she was articulating nuanced emotional
1:14.3	terrain that is, unfortunately, well-known and well-traveled by so many black and brown people
1:18.9	in this country.
1:20.8	What Stephanie went through was horrific and scarring, but what stood out to me the most about
1:24.1	the story was the fact that this happened to a young middle-class white woman.
1:28.7	I'm white, but I had a diverse group of friends growing up and I saw my black and brown friends
1:33.0	get harassed for things that I got away with or for nothing on more than one occasion.
1:37.4	I remember taking a friend to my corner store in seventh grade. She was followed around
1:41.2	aggressively by a suspicious shopkeeper. I was outraged. My friend was black.
1:46.0	She just shrugged.
	...

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