20 Jan Transference and Countertransference

SOCW–6111: ADVANCED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE I

Week 8: Interventions With Children

When working with children, it is essential to be aware of their developmental stage. Their language capability may be limited, so the use of alternative forms of therapy is sometimes needed. Play therapy, including art, dolls, and sandtray work, is regularly utilized with young children to help them begin to tell their stories. Children often use these tools to reenact their experiences and express their emotions. Many times these therapeutic play times are ritualistic in nature, a process that helps the child achieve a sense of mastery and control over the situation (Gil, 1991).

 

Discussion 2: Transference and Countertransference response

Specific skills and knowledge are essential for a social worker working with children. Understanding transference and countertransference is crucial to a healthy therapeutic relationship. Both transference and countertransference can be evident in any client–therapist relationship, but are especially important in working with children because of a common instinct among adults to protect and nurture the young. The projection or relocation of one’s feelings about one person onto another, otherwise known as transference, is a common response by children (Gil, 1991). Countertransference, a practitioner’s own emotional response to a child, is also common.

For this Discussion, review the Malawista (2004) article.

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By Day 6 🙁 Note!!! PLEASE WRITE OUT EACH QUESTION BEFORE PROVIDING A RESPONSE)

Respond to at least two colleagues ( see below) who identified strategies different from your own by proposing alternative strategies.

 

Support your posts with specific references to this week’s resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references

Note!! “FEEDBACK RESPONSE FROM PROFESSOR from previous work. Remember to use headings for peer responses as well. To enhance your learning use multiple examples and reference multiple required and outside sources for the original and peer responses Nice Start

 

Note!!! Be sure to support your responses with specific references to the resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references both within the text and on the referencing section. PLEASE ALWAYS INCLUDE THE REQIRED TEXTBOOK as part of the references and if possible some of the REQUIRED READING if applicable. Please always start by referring to THE TEXTBOOK, Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families: Evidence-Informed Assessments and Interventions 2013

 

NOTE!!! Remember to synthesize/paraphrase the content you incorporate in your weekly discussion board responses and always cite appropriately according to APA conventions; it is your responsibility! Remember to use headings for all original and peer responses, as this is part of APA formatting. Please ensure you are proofing your work prior to submitting. TIP type your responses in a word document, so you can proofread then copy and paste the response into the discussion board forum.

 

Required Readings

Chiesa, C. (2012). Scripts in the sand: Sandplay in transactional analysis psychotherapy with children. Transactional Analysis Journal, 42(4), 285–293.

 

Malawista, K. L. (2004). Rescue fantasies in child therapy: countertransference/transference enactments. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21(4), 373–386.

 

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014b). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

 

• Working with Children and Adolescents: The Case of Claudia (pp. 15–17)

 

Note: Depending on your concentration, you may not receive a case study book until a later term. Therefore, if you did not receive a copy of Social Work Case Studies: Concentration Year in your previous course, use the linked PDF provided here. If you did receive the book referenced above, you may find the cases there or use the PDF.

 

Ruffolo, M. C., & Allen-Meares, P. (2013). Intervention with children. In M. J. Holosko, C. N. Dulmus, & K. M. Sowers (Eds.), Social work practice with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments and interventions (pp. 41–69). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

 

Taylor, E. R. (2009). Sandtray and solution-focused therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 18(1), 56–68.

 

Christogiorgos, S., & Giannakopoulos, G. (2015). Parental presence and countertransference phenomena in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of children and adolescents. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 22(1), 1-11.

 

Optional Resources

Gil, E. (1991). The healing power of play: Working with abused children. New York, NY: Guilford Press:

 

Chapter 2, “The Child Therapies: Application in Work With Abused Children (pp. 26–36) (PDF)

 

Chapter 3, “The Treatment of Abused Children” (pp. 37–82) (PDF)

 

van der Kolk, B. A. (2003). The neurobiology of childhood trauma and abuse. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 12, 293–317. Retrieved from http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/neurobiology_childhood_trauma_abuse.pdf

 

van der Kolk, B. A. (2005a). Child abuse & victimization. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5),374–378. Retrieved from http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/neurobiology_childhood_trauma_abuse.pdf

 

van der Kolk, B. A. (2005b). Developmental trauma disorder. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 401–408.

 

Use this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

 

 

 

 

1 day ago

Monica Scott

RE: Discussion 2 – Week 8

COLLAPSE

Post your explanation why transference and countertransference are so common when working with children.

Countertransference is the influence on the therapist’s understanding and techniques that stem from both transference and his emotional responsibilities to the patient’s transferences.Transference and countertransference are especially important in working with children because of a common instinct among adults to protect and nurture the young. Therapeutic relationships with children often see therapists as rescuers to their problems. (Malawista, 2004). Further, they may see therapists as the idealized parent of the family romance. Both child and therapist fantasies become transactional, where the child wishes to be rescued by the therapist and the therapist wishes to rescue the child (Malawista, 2004). In many instances child therapists enter into the profession due to a desire to have children and/or their maternal identification (Malawista, 2004). Christogiorgos & Giannakopoulos 2014, postulated two forms of countertransference. Direct countertransference is associated with the patient’s transference movements, and indirect countertransference is the therapist’s emotional response towards subjects outside of the therapeutic process. Furter, indirect countertransference involves information with respect to the therapist’s personal history which includes his or her conscious or unconscious reactions to the client’s transference (Christogiorgos & Giannakopoulos, 2014). Being that children communicate nonverbally to a greater extent than adults, they express themselves at a greater extent than do adults which translates to a rise in intense countertransference than working with adults (Christogiorgos & Giannakopoulos, 2014),

 

Then, identify some strategies you might use to address both transference and countertransference in your work with children.

One of the strategies I might use to address both transference and countertransference in my work with children is to include parents in therapeutic sessions with children. This process reduces therapist biases that can occur in the absence of parents. It can remove the “rescue fantasy’ concept of both the therapist and the child (Malawista, 2004). An additional strategy that can be employed to address both transference and countertransference when working with children is establishing professional boundaries between myself and the child client. Preestablished boundaries will allow me to remain within the parameters of the professional therapist/client relationship. Finally, being self aware will afford me the opportunity to self reflect with respect to analyzing my consummate professional affect throughout the therapeutic relationship.

References:

 

Christogiorgos, S., & Giannakopoulos, G. (2015). Parental presence and countertransference phenomena in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of children and adolescents. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 22(1), 1-11.

 

Malawista, K. L. (2004). Rescue Fantasies in Child Therapy: Countertransference/Transference enactments. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21(4), 373–386. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1023/B:CASW.0000035222.16367.32