Transference / Countertransference in Integral Psychotherapy

One of the foundations of Freudian theory is that within the therapeutic relationship the patient and therapist both project previous relationships onto each other. For example, the client might start relating to the therapist like a parent, or the therapist might start feeling towards the client like an irritating family member from his or her past. These projections are called “transferences” when the client is doing it and “countertransferences” when the therapist is doing it. Unlike some other aspects of Freudian theory, transference and countertransference have been validated through all four quadrants with neuroscience, social research, and clinical practice.

Transference involves a client’s predictive models of relationships distorting their feelings and thoughts about their therapist. Expect acceptance and look for acceptance. Expect disapproval and look for disapproval. Get surprised at an unexpected reaction (my therapist looks angry) and either change your model (he’s just concentrating and I care a lot how he feels about me) or defend your model (“I know you’re mad at me!”)

All human consciousness is governed by predictive models which guide us by generating states with stories and impulses in response to the constant flood of data from the world and our own consciousness. Predictive models (called “Bayesian priors” after the Reverend Thomas Bayes who mathematically demonstrated them in the 1750s) are formed by our drives and personality intertwined with life experiences—especially social experiences. Say a client anticipates criticism (having been criticized repeatedly by an angry father) and instead receives interest, care, and curiosity from their therapist. Feeling safe, they are more able to self-reflect on their model of generally expecting criticism and change it into generally expecting approval—thus expanding their consciousness and being more oriented to the present moment. If a client anticipates understanding or approval and experiences disapproval from their therapist, they might feel threatened and defend the sense of threat (“I know you don’t like me!)—thus resisting growth and change.

Countertransference is the therapist’s moment-to-moment predictive, embodied responses to the client being distorted by the therapist’s previous learning and biases.

Good therapists use all reactions to clients, including counter transference reactions, informationally. Are my feelings for you right now proportionate and anchored in the present moment? Is my past relational programming distorting my experience of you, and what does that distortion suggest in helping you grow? For instance, if I’m especially pleased with a client being impressed with me, or especially distressed by a mistake I make in the session, I’m usually caught up in a countertransference reaction.

Integral understanding in a therapist involves openness to all points of view, and confidence in clients’ capacities to heal and grow. Integral understanding thus naturally supports therapists using transferences/countertransferences to help clients consistently update their predictive models to be more accurate, diverse, and compassionate. This happens as the therapist keeps being a safe, interested, and compassionate presence establishing the dialectic to cocreate a culture where the client and the client’s universe are cherished and the ongoing purpose is to help the client’s thoughts/behaviors/relationships be more beautiful, good, and true. This process naturally remediates symptoms, enhances health, and supports development—the three fundamental goals of psychotherapy.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing blogs exploring:

• How transference/countertransference interfaces with Friston’s free energy theory of consciousness.
• The story of Reverend Thomas Bayes—the man who identified predictive models now called “Bayesian priors” in the 1750s—whose work was published posthumously by his good friend the Reverend Richard Price.
• How these ideas translate into a comprehensive model of love in therapy, romance, and leadership.