PHYSICIANS EMOTIONAL-REACTIONS TO PATIENTS - RECOGNIZING AND MANAGINGCOUNTERTRANSFERENCE

Traditionally, physicians have been socialized to repress emotional re sponses to patients in an effort to maintain clinical objectivity, In this article we call into question that assumption, maintaining that r ather than being;hindrances such natural responses can be facilitators to the development of stronger physician-patient relationships. We fo cus on the concept of countertransference, defined here broadly as inc ompletely recognized emotional reactions a physician has toward a pati ent or his/her circumstances. In this article we differentiate between internally-focused and externally-focused countertransference. Intern ally-focused countertransference refers to unrecognized reactions that reflect the unique psychological state of the physician, whereas exte rnally-focused countertransference focuses on the reactions that prima rily derive from the behaviors or other characteristics of the specifi c patient or circumstances, We conclude by presenting a 3-step strateg y for recognizing and managing countertransference responses to patien ts.