Abstract
The concept of countertransference, which refers to the emotional response of the therapist to their client, has been at the heart of theoretical debates and clinical practice within both psychotherapy and psychology. Most of the literature on countertransference has either been written by experienced therapists, with the empirical literature focusing on trained therapists. There is a relative neglect of trainee psychologist and psychotherapist’s experience of countertransference particular among trainee counselling psychologists. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the narratives around the area of countertransference as told by seven participants all of whom are trainee counselling psychologists based in the UK. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using the Critical Narrative Approach (CNA). CNA brings together a focus on how people narrate their lives to form a meaningful whole and how in this process a narrative identity: a sense of self both for ourselves and others is constituted. CNA involves six stages of analysis beginning with the analysis of the preconceptions of the researcher with stage two identifying narratives and stage three exploring the narratives tone and rhetorical function. Stage four explores how identities are constructed or projected in the text and the fifth stage identifies important themes and relationships between these themes. Within the sixth stage, the narratives are subjected to critique, which in the case of this research is from a Foucauldian perspective on power relations as they operate in relation to therapeutic practice/action and Lacan’s ethics of responsibility. Finally, the results of all previous stages were presented and discussed. The findings suggested that countertransference has a significant influence on trainee’s personal and professional identity with trainees in their stories talking about their lack of awareness of countertransference and their often feeling powerless or angry and frustrated with clients. It was recommended that more reflective training may help trainee’s navigate the difficulties in their experience and management of countertransference.