Countertransference Reactions to Cancer

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Abstract
This paper describes various countertransference manifestations observed within a group of 7 analysts engaged in a research project based in the psychoanalysis or psychoanalytical psychotherapy of women with cancer of the breast. Countertransference problems were discussed with regard to psychosomatic research in general, and cancer research in particular. The major countertransference manifestations stem from the peculiar interaction of the particular unconscious research motivation of the analyst in combination with characteristic unconscious meanings attributed to the cancer process. Typical examples are given of this interaction with particular emphasis upon the adaptive and nonadaptive solutions of the countertransference cycle. Insight gained in this area is applied in a brief discussion of surgeons'' problems with cancer patients and countertransference phenomena in general analytic practice.

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