Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/465652
therapist as a professional who is utilized for massage, the client seeks approval, special consideration, and support from the therapist on multiple levels. The degree to which this occurs can vary greatly depending on the state of mind, level of self-awareness, and autonomy of the client. Some clients exhibit little or no tendency toward transference, while other cases are extreme. Often, the degree to which the client is experiencing pain or coping with physical, mental, or emotional trauma can be a factor. Behaviors that signal transference include: • Asking the therapist questions about the therapist's personal life. • Disclosing very personal information in early sessions. • Regularly bringing the therapist gifts or leaving excessively large tips. • Giving the therapist too much credit for personal progress and overly praising the therapist. • Inviting the therapist out to social engagements, asking for friendship, or seeking sexual involvement. • Asking to set up sessions when the therapist is not on the clinic schedule, or asking for a special schedule. • Having difficulty leaving at the end of the session and demonstrating behavior that prolongs parting, such as asking for more treatment, asking questions about the session, or starting a personal conversation. • Seeking the therapist's support in emotional and personal issues and asking for the therapist's approval and reassurance on matters not related to massage. In some situations, the client may experience feelings of anger, disappointment, rejection, and shame when the therapist resists allowing the therapeutic relationship to be personalized. Setting good boundaries and paying attention to the way in which the therapeutic relationship is established are probably the best ways to decrease situations of transference. 32 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a r c h / a p r i l 2 0 1 5 PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSES Psychological defense mechanisms are mental processes that enable the mind to deal with conflicts it can't resolve. Everyone learns some type of psychological defense from normal experiences of life. Psychological defense mechanisms are often supported by physical tension patterns that help suppress disturbing emotions, desires, ideas, and memories. In some cases, defense mechanisms are necessary for survival, or allow a person to adapt and function in the world after an extreme trauma. Often they create imbalances that prevent people from dealing with conflicts so they might be understood and resolved. A few primary defense mechanisms are described here in terms of the psychological dynamics that might impact the massages you give. Suppression Suppression is the conscious pushing down of anxiety- producing desires, feelings, ideas, memories, or urges. The item that causes anxiety is recognized on a conscious level but then actively avoided, ignored, or squashed. For example, a client reared by parents who discouraged the display of emotion might feel sadness during a particular massage technique, but view the display of emotion as unacceptable and embarrassing. The client can recognize the feeling but tenses his muscles and actively dismisses the feeling to avoid expressing the sadness through tears or sobbing. Denial Denial is the outright refusal to acknowledge something that has occurred or is occurring. Suppression might be used to support denial. Denial protects the mind from anxiety-producing conflicts it can't cope with. For example, alcoholics often deny they have a problem with alcohol and insist the situation is under control.