The Therapist's Transition

• Published in: The Psychoanalytic review (1963) Vol. 106; no. 5; p. 385
• Main Authors: Evzonas, Nicolas, Laufer, Laurie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2019
• Subjects: Adult; Countertransference; Heterosexuality - psychology; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Disorders - therapy; Professional-Patient Relations; Psychoanalytic Therapy - methods; Transgender Persons - psychology
• ISSN: 1943-3301
• DOI: 10.1521/prev.2019.106.5.385

Eager to distance himself from the clinical mistreatment and theoretical arrogance shown toward a gender-variant population, a self-identified cis-gendered male clinician-researcher narrates his experiences, difficulties, and doubts from a psychoanalytic standpoint in his interactions with a transgender adult in an institutional setting. He thus addresses from a pluralistic perspective the intrapsychic concerns and sociocultural norms that contribute to the patient's suffering, as well as the therapist's own vulnerability and countertransference challenges in this situation. By reflecting on the very traps that he fell into when writing a previous version of this article, the author proposes a focused narrative, co-signed by his supervisor, to provide the reader with a cautionary tale of how easily a clinician's efforts to understand may devolve into objectifications embedded in the history of analytic thinking.