Deepening Intimacy in Psychotherapy : Using the Erotic Transference and Countertransference (Hardcover)

by Florence Rosiello (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In this provocative volume, Dr. Florence W. Rosiello addresses erotic dynamics in the treatment relationship within the context of a two-person therapy, emphasizing the necessity of mutuality and emotional reciprocity between patient and therapist. With rich clinical illustrations, she demonstrates how the intimacy created by working within the sexual dimension of the therapeutic relationship may present opportunities for insight and growth that could easily be missed if one seeks to avoid these highly charged issues. Focusing on those patients who are predisposed to relating to others in a sexualized manner, Dr. Rosiello has discovered that mutual exploration of both the therapist's and the patient's subjective experience offers a valuable and effective means of enhancing the treatment.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson; 1 edition (October 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765702657
• ISBN-13: 978-0765702654
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #710,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A groundbreaking work, March 29, 2000

By A Customer

Rosiello's book represents new ground in dealing with erotic transference and erotic countertransference in psychoanalytic treatment. Her openness in her discussing her erotic feelings will provoke many readers, while offering many more a new way of working with these often difficult feelings. Negotioating patients through these often turbulent waters is Rosiello's specialty, and the numerous clinical examples should give many clinicians a new way of treating patients. Her close examinations of both her feelings as well as her patients' feelings can help many therapists add a new dimension to their work, and can offer insights in helping to reboot a stalled treatment. Her work cannot be praised enough for its bravery and honesty.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Provocative Look at Sexual Tensions in Therapy, April 7, 2002

By	Oneman "Oneman" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This is a brave and inspiring book by an experienced, analytically-trained clinician who learned from leading a group of gay men with AIDS that the traditional Freudian treatments of erotic transference-abstention and interpretation, usually as resistence-could stifle some patients. These dying men demanded that Dr. Rosiello take more emotional risk. She did with them and then with other patients. The book describes a series of therapeutic encounters, including an asexual man, a seductive lesbian patient, and a therapist who is smitten with a new patient in the waiting room and, after many false starts, finds Dr. Rosiello for supervision. I thought this vignette, which is followed by a retelling by the supervisee, to be the most useful for teaching purposes. Supervision often does not work well for erotic transference issues. Dr. Rosiello offers an explanation: "Sexuality or just plain sex is quite shameful since without mutuality, sexual desire that is recounted or experienced in supervision can feel humiliating."

There is also an excellent review of the analytic literature with some interesting insights (e.g., "the primary intersubjective condition of erotic life is that of `experiencing the dizziness together'").

Dr. Rosiello rejects the classic view that the erotic transference-countertransference matrix must be ended or the patient referred to another analyst, persuasively arguing that for some patients it can deepen the intimacy and benefit the therapy. The book offers an alternative for treating these patients. And she asks some provocative questions, like, What makes something "sex?" What is happening when patients recount the explicit details of sex with therapists they are dating? Is it dishonest to dress asexually for the patients? How much of a therapist's sexual feelings are beneficial to share? She also discusses homoerotic feelings in therapy, a subject hidden, even now.

My only criticism is that while she is clear that she makes sure her supervisees are not in danger of acting out, she doesn't say how and doesn't discuss any of the ethical issues inherent in working with erotic transference. For example, she says that flirtation keeps things in play and she wouldn't assure a patient angry at her that expressing the anger would be safe, so why tell a patient it would be safe to express erotic feelings. One reason would be that in some states the therapist is required to tell the patient that sex between them isn't a possibility. Perhaps Amazon will pair this book with "Sexual Feelings in Psychotherapy," which focuses more on ethical issues. But this is a small complaint. I was fascinated by this book and inspired by the author's courage both as a clinician and a writer.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deepened awareness, February 17, 2007

By	Arthur Schor (new york, ny) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been in practice for nearly 30 years, at this point, and this is the first book that I've read on the erotic transference and countertransference that really gives a good clinical perspective. I actually can't remember when I've read a book from cover to cover in one sitting, but I did read it all at one time. I found myself reading it like it was a mystery story because I became so curious about the patients the author wrote about. Each clinical example was clear, honest, and authentically written about by the author who used her own emotional experiences to describe her work and her patient's treatment.
In my experiences with psychoanalytic writings about the erotic transference and countertransference, authors typically discuss the patient and the course of the treatment, but not their own experences of emotionality with a patient who feels they have fallen in love with the therapist. Dr. Rosiello discusses the twists and turns of such a treatment suggesting that it feels emotionally vulnerable for both patient and therapist. In the historical past of psychoanalysis, when patients fell in love or had sexualized feelings about their therapist, they were encouraged to 'get over' their feelings or get ready to be referred to a different therapist. It's interesting that those old notions about treatment and transferences still hold for many of us in the field. Dr. Rosiello believes that the erotic transference is a workable transference (like the maternal, neurotic, negative transference) and needs to be explored as all transferences are without the therapist feeling it should be analyzed away.
I very much liked this book and feel it provided an opportunity to think differently about some of my patients. This is a book that I will probably read and re-read for many years.