Countertransference is the conscious and/or unconscious reaction, behavior, or emotion that a therapist has towards a client who he/she treats therapeutically (Heimann, 1950). Without appropriate awareness and management, countertransference has the potential to have many deleterious effects on the relationship between a helping professional and his/her client or patient. Helping professionals who provide treatment for individuals suffering from eating disorders are at-risk for experiencing countertransference. The experience of countertransference among eating disorder helping professionals may manifest itself in feelings of frustration, helplessness, or satisfaction as well as in a disturbance of one’s own eating attitudes, body image, or self-esteem. Just like all other members of contemporary American society, eating disorder helping professionals are bombarded with cultural messages about their bodies, their shape, and their weight.
The present study sought to determine the degree to which countertransference exists among eating disorder helping professionals and whether or not eating attitudes, body image, and/or self-esteem are related to countertransference in eating disorder professionals. Countertransference was measured using the eight subscales of the Countertransference Questionnaire. Eating attitudes were measured using the Eating Attitudes Test-26, body image was measured with the Body Image Questionnaire, and self-esteem was quantified through the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Mean scores on the eight subscales of the Countertransference Questionnaire indicated that eating disorder helping professionals (N=84) experience mild feelings of countertransference that are related to feeling: helpless/inadequate, positive/satisfied, and parental/protective. Multiple regression analyses revealed that eating disorder professionals (N=84) who have high self-esteem are less likely to experience countertransference feelings of being parental and protective (β= -0.053; p<0.05), helpless and inadequate (β= -0.048; p<0.001), as well as overwhelmed and disorganized (β= -0.013; p<0.05). Future research may be directed towards the development and implementation of a supervision model focused upon cognitive coaching and the usage of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This supervision model may serve as a means by which to mitigate eating disorder treatment providers’ experiences of countertransference, while simultaneously helping them to enhance their self-esteem as it relates to their practice. Additional research may also address ways in which social workers can play a more active role in providing services and treatment to individuals suffering from eating disorders.