Therapist errors are unavoidable in the psychotherapeutic process. This article examines their impact on the therapeutic relationship, both intrapsychic and interpersonal. The author describes several sources of these errors and examines the process by which these lapses can and should be repaired by the therapist. He questions whether these errors are not only inevitable but also necessary to the therapeutic process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BernD. J. (1968). Attitudes as self-descriptions: Another look at the attitude-behavior link. In GreenwaldA. G.BrockT. C.OstromT. M. (Eds.), Psychological foundations of attitudes (pp. 197–216). New York: Academic Press.
2.
BerneE. (1966). Principles of group treatment. New York: Grove Press.
3.
CasementP. J. (1991). Learning from the patient. New York: Guilford Press. (Original work published 1985 as On learning from the patient).
4.
ClarkB. D. (1991). Empathic transactions in the deconfusion of child ego states. Transactional Analysis Journal, 21, 92–98.
5.
ErskineR. G. (1980). Script cure: Behavioral, intrapsychic and physiological. Transactional Analysis Journal, 10, 102–106.
6.
ErskineR. G. (1982). Supervision of psychotherapy: Models for professional development. Transactional Analysis Journal, 12, 314–321.
7.
ErskineR. G. (1991). Transference and transactions: Critique from an intrapsychic and integrative perspective. Transactional Analysis Journal, 21, 63–76.
8.
ErskineR. G. (1993). Inquiry, attunement, and involvement in the psychotherapy of dissociation. Transactional Analysis Journal, 23, 184–90.
9.
ErskineR. G. (1994). Shame and self-righteousness: Transactional analysis perspectives and clinical interventions. Transactional Analysis Journal, 24, 86–102.
10.
ErskineR. G.MoursundJ. P. (1988). Integrative psychotherapy in action. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
11.
ErskineR. G.TrautmannR. L. (1993). The process of integrative psychotherapy. In LoriaB. R. (Ed.), The boardwalk papers: Selections from the 1993 Eastern Regional Transactional Analysis Association Conference (pp. 1–26). Madison, WI: Omnipress.
12.
ErskineR. G.ZalcmanM. J. (1979). The racket system: A model for racket analysis. Transactional Analysis Journal, 9, 51–59.
13.
SternS. (1994). Needed relationships and repeated relationships: An integrated relational perspective. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 4(3), 317–345.
14.
StolorowR. D.BrandchaftB.AtwoodG. E. (1987). Psychoanalytic treatment: An intersubjective approach. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
15.
WinnicottD. W. (1958). Collected papers: Through paediatrics to psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.
