Countertransference themes which developed in therapeutic and research relationships with torturers are described and explored. They include dysregulated affect, a sense of role reversal, disconnection from others, anger, a sense of betraying victims and the disruption of long-held beliefs. Ways of dealing with countertransference in relation to perpetrators are also discussed.
ArendtH. (1964). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil.New York: Viking
2.
BadiouA. (2001). Ethics: An essay on the understanding of evil (HallwardP., Trans.). London: Verso
3.
Bar-OnD. (1989). Legacy of silence: Encounters with children of the Third Reich.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
4.
BaschM. F. (1983). Empathetic understanding: A review of the concept and some theoretical considerations. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 31, 101–126
5.
BaumeisterR. F. (1997). Evil: Inside human cruelty and violence.New York: W. H. Freeman
6.
DalenbergC. J. (2000). Countertransference and the treatment of trauma.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
7.
DershowitzA. M. (2004). Tortured reasoning. In LevinsonS. (Ed.), Torture: A collection (pp. 257–280). Oxford University Press
8.
EllisC.BochnerA. P. (2003). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (pp. 199–258). Thousand Oaks: Sage
9.
FoucaultM. (1990). The history of sexuality, Volume 1: An introduction. (HurleyR., Trans.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1976)
10.
ForgashC.KnipeJ. (2008). Integrating EMDR and ego state treatment for clients with trauma disorders. In ForgashC.CopeleyM. (Eds.), Healing the heart of trauma and dissociation with EMDR and Ego State Therapy (pp. 1–59). New York: Springer
11.
FosterD.HauptP.De BeerM. (2005). The theatre of violence: Narratives of protagonists in the South African conflict.Cape Town, South Africa: Human Sciences Research Council
12.
GilbertD. T.MaloneP. S. (1995). The correspondence bias.Psychological Bulletin, 117, 21–38
13.
GubaE. G.LincolnY. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In DenzinN.K.LincolnY.S. (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 105–117). Thousand Oaks: Sage
14.
HaririA. R.BookheimerS. Y.MaziottaJ. C. (2000). Modulating emotional responses: Effects of a neocortical network on the limbic system. Neuroreport, 11, 43–48
15.
Haritos-FatourosM. (1995). The official torturer: A leaning model for obedience to the authority of violence. In CrelinstenR. D.SchmidA. P. (Eds.), The politics of pain: Torturers and their masters (pp. 129–146). Boulder, CO: Westview Press
16.
HarringtonA. (2008). The cure within: A history of mind-body medicine.New York: Norton
17.
HermanJ. L. (2001). Trauma and recovery: From domestic abuse to political terror.London: Pandora
18.
HolmqvistR. (2001). Patterns of consistency and deviation in therapists' countertransference feelings. Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 10, 104–116
19.
HugginsM. K.Haritos-FatourosM.ZimbardoP. G. (2002). Violence workers: Police torturers and murderers reconstruct Brazilian atrocities.Berkeley: University of California Press
20.
Janoff-BulmanR. (1992). Shattered assumptions: Towards a new psychology of trauma.New York: Free Press
21.
JosselsonR. (1996). On writing other people's lives: Self-analytic reflections of a narrative researcher. In JosselsonR. (Ed.), Ethics and process in the narrative study of lives (pp. 60–71). Thousand Oaks: Sage
22.
LieblichA. (1996). Some unforeseen outcomes of conducting narrative research with people of one's own culture. In JosselsonR. (Ed.), Ethics and process in the narrative study of lives (pp. 172–184). Thousand Oaks: Sage
23.
LiftonR. J. (1986). The Nazi doctors: Medical killings and the psychology of genocide.New York: Basic Books
24.
McCannI. L.CollettiJ. (1994). The dance of empathy: A hermeneutic formulation of countertransference, empathy, and understanding in the treatment of individuals who have experienced early childhood trauma. In WilsonJ. P.LindyJ. D. (Eds.), Countertransference in the treatment of PTSD (pp. 87–121). New York: Guilford
25.
MillerA. G.GordonA. K.BuddieA. M. (1999). Accounting for evil and cruelty: Is to explain to condone?. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 254–268
26.
MillerM. E. (1996). Ethics and understanding through interrelationship: I and thou in dialogue. In JosselsonR. (Ed.), Ethics and process in the narrative study of lives (pp. 129–147). Thousand Oaks: Sage
27.
NellV. (2006). Cruelty's rewards: The gratifications of perpetrators and spectators. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 211–257
28.
ParkerI. (2005). Qualitative psychology: Introducing radical research.Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: Open University Press
29.
PearlmanL. A.SaakvitneK. W. (1995). Trauma and the therapist: Countertransference and vicarious traumatization in psychotherapy with incest survivors.New York: Norton
30.
SchulzW. F. (2007). Introduction. In SchulzW. F. (Ed.), The phenomena of torture. Readings and commentary (pp. 1–9). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
31.
StaubE. (1989). The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence.Cambridge University Press
WilsonJ. P.LindyJ. D.RaphaelB. (1994). Empathetic strain and therapist defence: Type I and II CTRs. In WilsonJ. P.LindyJ. D. (Eds.), Countertransference in the treatment of PTSD (pp. 31–61). New York: Guilford
34.
WilsonJ. P.ThomasR. B. (2004). Empathy in the treatment of trauma and PTSD.New York: Brunner-Routledge
35.
YardleyL. (2000). Dilemmas in qualitative health research. Psychology and Health, 15, 215–228
