Failing to Do the Job

Abstract

This article provides a personal account of a failed psychotherapy. It describes the unconscious countertransference reactions that severely interfered with the author’s capacity to sustain a reflective space or adequate therapeutic position, resulting in the total rupture of the therapeutic endeavor. Aspects of the author’s personal therapy, ongoing consultations, and reading created a reflective space in which he was later able to come to terms with his failure and learn from it. The article concludes with a discussion of psychotic processes and the need for transactional analysts to explore and integrate other theories and treatment styles in order to further deepen the efficacy of their transactional analysis work with individuals who manifest deep states of psychological and interpersonal disturbance.