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Countertransference reactions to adolescents with eating disorders: Relationships to clinician and patient factors
Author(s) -
Satir Dana A.,
ThompsonBrenner Heather,
Boisseau Christina L.,
Crisafulli Michele A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.20650
Subject(s) - countertransference , feeling , psychology , demographics , clinical psychology , eating disorders , psychotherapist , personality , social psychology , demography , sociology
Objective: Clinical report suggests that therapists have strong and sometimes difficult‐to‐manage reactions to patients with eating disorders (EDs); however, systematic research is largely absent. The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional responses, or countertransference (CT) reactions, clinicians experience when working with patients with EDs, and to identify clinician, patient, and therapy variables associated with these responses. Method: One hundred twenty clinicians reported on multiple variables related to an adolescent female patient they were treating for an ED. Results: Six patterns of reactions were identified: angry/frustrated, warm/competent, aggressive/sexual, failing/incompetent, bored/angry at parents and overinvested/worried feelings. The factors showed meaningful relationships across clinician demographics, patient characteristics, and treatment techniques. Discussion: Overall, clinician's reactions were most frequently associated with the clinician's gender, patient's level of functioning and improvement during treatment, and patient personality style. These issues have important implications for treatment, training and supervision. © 2009 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2009