| Abstract: | A primary challenge encountered in treating adult patients who were sexually abused as children is the experience of being divided between feelings of empathy for the patient as an abused person versus feelings that this person is sometimes being abusive and foiling or hurting us. This article examines some of the sources of what is seen as the collective difficulty of therapists in resolving the recurrent conflict between identifications with the abused and the abuser in countertransference toward these patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
