Countertransference Reactions to Violent Patients
JOHN R. LION M.D.1, and
STEFAN A. PASTERNAK M.D.2
1 Assistant Professor and Director, Clinical Research Program for Violent Behavior, Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 645 W. Redwood St., Baltimore, Md. 21201
2 Assistant Professor and Director, Outpatient Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C.
Treating violent patients can evoke countertransference reactions of fear and anger in therapists that may interfere with effective management. The authors present six case reports in which countertransference reactions deleteriously affected the treatment outcome. They stress the importance of the physician's being aware of his fear and of how this fear may distort, by projection, his view of the patient as being dangerous.
