People who have been subjected to human rights violations invariably suffer from overwhelming levels of fear and anxiety which threaten the integrity of the personality. Their feelings permeate the psychotherapy relationship and may leave the psychotherapist or cousellor feeling invaded, helpless and confused. This presentation discusses how feelings are projected into the psychotherapist/counselor and how they effect them at a personal and professional level. How this predicament is resolved in supervision is then be examined. While these authors work with torture and trauma survivors and is relevant to other serious traumatized populations; the paper describes a magnified version of psychological processes that occur in mainstream psychological practice.
This paper was prepared in collaboration with Robin Bowles.