Which of the following scenarios could be an example of countertransference in counseling?

• A. You have been a victim of domestic abuse and your male client discloses that he hit his wife because he couldn't get her to stop nagging him about his drinking.
• B. Your client is having problems with her 16-year-old daughter who keeps running away from home. Your own teenage daughter recently did the same thing and you are still reeling from the incident.
• C. Your client is having problems making a decision about his career. You remember having similar struggles before deciding to go into the helping field.
• D. A client repeatedly misses appointments due to transportation issues.

Answer: (B)

Countertransference happens when a counselor’s own unresolved feelings or personal experiences are triggered by a client’s situation, shaping how the counselor thinks, feels, and responds. In this scenario, the counselor’s own teenage daughter recently ran away, just like the client’s daughter. That direct, personal parallel can evoke strong emotions—such as fear, grief, protectiveness, or a impulse to rescue—that aren’t about the client’s current needs. Those feelings can blur objectivity, bias interpretations, or push the counselor to respond in ways that reflect the therapist’s life rather than the client’s actual circumstances. That makes it a clear example of countertransference.

The other scenarios don’t demonstrate this same personal-emotional entanglement in the clinical process. One involves a logistical issue of transportation, which doesn’t reveal an emotional response influencing clinical judgment. Another involves the therapist recalling their own struggles, which could influence perspective but isn’t as directly tied to an immediate emotional reaction to the client’s situation. The remaining scenario involves a disclosure of abuse without a described personal reaction from the therapist.