De achtergrond op de voorgrond

Summary

The background in the foreground: On ethnicity, transference-countertransference and enactments

This article explores what may occur in the transference-countertransference when the patient and therapist/analyst differ in ethnicity. In an ethno-cultural enactment the patient and therapist are unconsciously actualising in their interactive behavioural sequences feelings and thoughts that are embedded in their ethnic difference. Effective analysis of the enactment contributes to a deepening of the therapeutic process.

In the transference a patient in an ethnic minority position can experience the therapist as a discriminatory aggressor. If the therapist does not recognise the signs of this or (unconsciously) rejects them, the patient is left with deep-seated feelings of insecurity. For a therapist who himself belongs to an ethnic minority and treats a patient in a majority position, it can be difficult to tolerate the patient's unconscious use of characteristics in the transference that in Dutch culture and society are attributed to the ethnicity of the therapist. It is important that the therapist can accommodate these transference projections with empathic understanding, so as to be able to investigate with the patient what is behind them.

Finally, it is emphasised how important it is that the therapist should be emotionally familiar with his or her own ethnic majority or minority position and the possible impact of this on another person, who may differ from or have the same background as the therapist. This enhances the therapist's empathic imagination towards the patient who has a different position and increases the former's sensitivity to recognise and be bold enough to explore the often subtle signals of the difference.