Consultation Process

The concepts of transference and countertransference are reviewed and applied to the consultation process. It is argued that these concepts offer a framework from which to view some of the strong emotional reactions that occur between nurses and patients. Although both of these concepts arose from psychoanalytical theory, the role of the consultation-liaison nurse is substantively different from that of the psy-choanalyst. Examples are offered to demonstrate the application of these concepts to the consultation process. (J AM PSYCHIATR NURSES Assoc [1995]. 1, 42-47) Consultation-liaison nursing is an establishedC specialty area of advanced practice in psychi-atric-mental health nursing. The consultation-liaison nurse focuses on the emotional, spiritual, develop-mental, cognitive, and behavioral responses of pa-tients with actual or potential physical dysfunction (American Nurses Association, 1994). This specialty arose during the 1960s when general hospitals first established psychiatric units. Staff working in medi