IJSP Number 8, 2026

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 8, 2026 Page | 17 COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: IS IT AN IMPEDIMENT OR BENEFICIAL? Richard G. ERSKINE, PhD. 1 1 Training Director, Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Deusto University, Bilbao, Spain E-mail: integpsych@earthlink.net Abstract: There is a common understanding that countertransference is an impediment in psychotherapy. This article explores the beneficial aspects of countertransference and the significance on attending to countertransference in psychotherapy supervision. A distinction is made between Reactive Countertransference which is not therapeutic and a Responsive Countertransference which is therapeutic. Two psychotherapy examples are provided that describe the author’s therapeutic use of countertransference. Keywords: countertransference, responsive countertransference, reactive countertransference, integrative psychotherapy, client-therapist relationship, supervision In a previous article I reflected on the various phases of supervision in psychotherapy [1]. I described a framework of supervision that I have found useful in organizing my approach to professional training, case consultation, and p s y c h o t h e r a p y supervision according to supervisees’ levels of therapeutic acumen. I wrote about the responsibilities of the supervisor in promoting competent, ethical psychotherapists and focused on how skill-development is important in the early phases of supervision because it provides the supervisee with a solid foundation for applying theory into clinical practice. My colleagues Loredana Vîșcu, Clifton Edward Watkins Jr. and I used the concept of a “pyramid” as a metaphor that describes the various levels of supervisees’ development in becoming a competent psychotherapist [2]. During the early phases of supervision, I want to help the supervisee strengthen their skills in making interpersonal contact, develop their capacity for affect, developmental and rhythmic attunement, and consistently use phenomenological, historical and relational inquiry [3]. It is often necessary to re-teach concepts and interventions which the supervisee has learned previously with the focus on how the concept or method may be applied in a specific therapy situation. Since the primary focus at these skill-development phases of supervision is on increasing the trainee’s level of information on how to do psychotherapy, I generally do not focus on any possible countertransference unless such countertransference is interfering with the supervisee’s capacity to be fully present and therapeutic. However, while listening