Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1998

Abstract

The case, "Loving Hate," clarifies the complicated dynamics of the eroticization of hate. These dynamics were forged for the adult sexual abuse survivor in the early abusive relationship where love was always accompanied by hate. In the therapeutic relationship, these dynamics are reenacted and experienced in the countertransference where the therapist feels the patient's unconscious pressure to turn this relationship into a kind of "hating mating." This case vignette is used to illustrate how the therapist's countertransference impasse impeded treatment. Explanation and analysis are offered in this case to suggest how by using the paradigm of Abuser, Victim, Bystander to understand countertransference reactions, the therapist might have offered more empathic responses to this patient and possibly circumvented the treatment impasse that ensued.


Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.