[1] Also known as somatic countertransference, it can incorporate the therapist's gut feelings, as well as changes to breathing, to heart rate and to tension in muscles.
[15] High levels of body-centred countertransference have since been found in both Irish female trauma therapists and clinical psychologists.
The most common being: (a) Muscle Tension- 81%, (b) Tearfulness- 78%, (c) Sleepiness- 72%, (d) Yawning- 69%, (e) Throat constriction- 46%, (f) Headache- 43%, (g) Stomach disturbance- 43%, (h) Unexpectedly shifting in body 29%, (i) sexual arousal- 29%, (j) raised voice- 28%, (k) aches in joints- 26%, (l) nausea- 24%, (m) Dizziness- 20%, and (n) Genital pain-7.5%.
It also might explain the relatively frequent reported experience of sexual arousal amongst Irish female trauma therapists.
[25] Further validation of body-centred countertransference in psychologists and therapists is on-going in both NUI Galway and Trinity College Dublin.
Therapists have been warned against assuming too automatically that their body-feelings always involve somatic resonance to the client, as opposed to being produced from their own feelings/experiences - the same problem appearing with countertransference generally.