The Ill Therapist: Therapists’ Reactions to Personal Illness and Its Impact on Psychotherapy

When a therapist becomes ill, the therapeutic relationship is affected as much by the therapist’s manner of handling the illness as by the illness itself. Countertransference may cause mishandling. Illness challenges a therapist’s defenses against neediness and helplessness; feeling vulnerable is uncomfortable; and the seriousness of a threat may be denied. Therapists who avoid their own feelings about being ill deprive their patients of important opportunities to work through its meaning. An ill therapist must permit all expressions of patient affect. Therapists need to plan ways to manage their practices in the event of illness. Psychotherapy training programs should address therapist-illness issues for therapists and their supervisors.