EFFECT OF DIAGNOSIS ON COUNTERTRANSFERENTIAL RESPONSES TO CHILD-PSYCHOTHERAPY PATIENTS

Examined the impact of patient diagnosis on countertransferential resp onses to hypothetical latency-aged child psychotherapy patients meetin g criteria for Dysthymia, Conduct, and Borderline Disorders. Three sub types of countertransference (CT) were measured: positive (e.g., nurtu rant feelings), negative (e.g., boredom), and CT-related activity (e.g ., tendency to refer patient to another therapist). All three subtypes were found to vary significantly as a function of diagnosis. Of the t hree diagnostic groups, Dysthymic patients elicited the highest degree of positive CT; Conduct Disorder patients, the highest degree of nega tive CT; and Borderline patients, the highest degree of CT-related act ivity. Neither patient and therapist gender nor therapist experience w as significantly related to any of the CT scores; however, therapist p sychological distress was found to be significantly associated with ne gative CT and CT-related activity for all three diagnoses.