In Dialogue with Doug Hansen

In Dialogue with Doug Hansen…

…or Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? part 2

because it was spurred on (pun intended) by this morning’s foray. You may never know how the 2 are connected. I’m still untangling the 2 from an activating event about a month ago. I received a picture of my youngest dressed up for a special school day as a cowboy. That’s all I ever did as a kid, play cowboys or play baseball. We didn’t have Atari yet. In the picture, he’s wearing my boots 🙁

I’m kind of struggling and no distraction, good or bad, can keep my mind off my son. This will set a little context for these reads.

To read my morning meanderings CLICK

In 2009 I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Doug Hansen, Relational Psychoanalyst. I was considering living in his region and was looking for a marriage and family therapist supervisor.

After the interview, Doug asked if I had any questions. I said that I’d had few experiences with a true therapist trained in modern psychodynamics so I had a lot of questions.

You see, psychoanalysis is directly descended from Sigmund Freud. It’s like Doug is just a couple generations removed from Freud himself.

Doug patiently fielded my questions and I sat there amazed. He is a good Christian by the way, and a university professor. Nonetheless, reading a good psychoanalysis article is worlds apart from reading a regular psychological study. It’s like reading deep philosophy.

Needless to say, the free exchange was well worth my time.

BTW currently listening to…

We The Kingdom
Miracle Power

They remind me of Southern Rock, the kind of rock that walks the fine line between country and rock, cowboy rock. I know, it’s another cowboy reference.

One of the many questions I asked Doug Hansen had to do with the field of psychoanalysis now that it’s a couple generations removed from Freud. Has the modality of counseling really changed in many ways?

Doug offered some examples of changes, but I was most shocked by the newer views on transference and countertransference.

Historically, this has nearly been taboo if allowed in the counseling relationship.

Either the client of the therapist experiences transference when some aspect of the relationship reminds him/her of something/someone he/she is strongly attached to outside the relationship. Or at least, this is one form of transference.

Countertransference is when the other person in some way begins to pick up on the transference, but then has a similar experience.

This has been closely guarded in times past because something can quite literally develop between counselor and client, and possibly skew the relationship.

Doug said now psychoanalysts are trained to nearly celebrate if there is something between them caused by transference and countertransference. This thing from the outside experience of both client and counselor is now utilized as a tool to strengthen the relationship.

What was once thought to be taboo, dangerous, even the seedbed for unprofessional affairs, is now utilized by psychoanalysts to strengthen the bond.

The song randomly played on my mellow Pandora station. If you need to chill out, listen to my station for awhile CLICK