Abstract
This paper describes specific transference and counter-transference issues that commonly emerge in therapeutic work with adolescents and parents who are in the midst of family transitions such as divorce and remarriage. Psychoanalytic understanding and definitions of transference and countertransference are applied to short-term family-centered cases in which the parent-adolescent relationship is at particular risk. Case vignettes are presented in order to illustrate how transference and countertransference may guide or interfere with clinical interventions that are especially indicated with adolescents whose family structure has changed. Such interventions as well as the use of consultation are briefly described.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbate, G. M. (1964). Child analysis at different developmental stages.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 12, 135–150.
Bornstein, B. (1948). Emotional barriers in the understanding and treatment of young children.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 18, 691–697.
Burlingham, D., (1935). Child analysis and the mother,Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 4, 69–92.
Giovacchini, P. L. (1985) Countertransference and the severely disturbed adolescent. In Feinstein, S. C. (Ed.),Adolescent psychiatry, vol. 12 (pp. 449–467). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hetherington, E. M. (1972). Effects of father absence on personality development in adolescent daughters.Developmental Psychology, 7, 313–326.
Jacobs, T. J. (1986). On countertransference enactments.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 34, 289–307.
Kalter, N. (1984). Conjoint mother-daughter treatment: A beginning phase of psychotrerapy with adolescent daughters of divorce.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 54, 490–497.
Sandler, J. (1976). Countertransference and role-responsiveness.International Review of Psychoanalysis, 3, 43–48.
Schowalter, J. E. (1985). Countertransference in work with children: Review of a neglected concept.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25(1), 40–45.
Tyson, R. L. (1986). Countertransference evolution in theory and practice.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 34, 251–274.
Tyson, R. L., & Tyson, P. (1986). The concept of transference in child psychoanalysis.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25(1), 30–39.
Wallerstein, J. (1990). Transference and countertransference in clinical interventions with divorcing families.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(3), 337–345.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
At the time this paper was prepared, Ms. Springer was Associate Director and a senior clinician at the Center for the Family in Transition in Corte Madera, California. Funds for the research and clinical work that provided the basis for this paper were supplied by grants from the San Francisco Foudation. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Orthopsychiatry Association, New York City, March 31–April 4, 1989.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Springer, C. Clinical work with adolescents and their parents during family transitions: Transference and countertransference issues. Clin Soc Work J 19, 405–415 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757442
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757442