They behave towards their therapists as they perceive…
““They behave towards their therapists as they perceive themselves to have been treated by their absent parents. They make their therapists feel very fully what it is like to be discarded, ignored, despised, helpless or even unreal and non-existent. (...) What needs to be understood in such situations is not that the child is perceiving the therapist as the insufficiently caring parent of his past experiences and revenging himself. Beyond this the child is also reversing the original situation. This time the child is identifying himself as the cruel, rejecting but powerful person and it is the therapist who is to feel rejected, hurt, helpless and…to feel the pangs of betrayal of trust and affection. In such situations the therapist cannot become genuinely trustworthy in the child’s eyes until experience has shown that he has the strength to contain the projections of the feelings that the child finds intolerable.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Therapists must embody strength and containment, allowing clients to project deep wounds without feeling abandoned.
In simple terms: Therapists need to hold and contain client projections.
Key Takeaway
Provide steady, trustworthy presence for wounded clients.
Themes
therapy
projection
containment
Mood
empathetic
professional
Type
clinical
educational
When to use this quote
- counseling sessions
- trauma work
- clinical supervision
Key Concepts
psychodynamic therapy
trust building
Questions to Reflect On
- How can therapists balance empathy with emotional containment?
- What strategies help maintain therapeutic safety?
A Different Perspective
Clients may resist if therapist appears too detached.