Measuring countertransference and attitude in therapeutic relationships.

Significant results were obtained establishing a relationship between the therapist's attitude of liking or disliking for his or her clients and countertransference. If strong feelings of liking are present, clients are viewed as having personalities closer to the therapist's personality than are the client's measured personalities. When strong feelings of disliking are operative, the therapist's distortion of the client's measured personality runs in the opposite direction and is viewed as more dissimilar from the therapist's personality than it is measured to be. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)