14 - Counteridentification

Counteridentification is an important term in psychological theory and in the literature on psychotherapy. It is also implicated in numerous problems that many adults experience. It refers to the common unconscious motivation in pre-adolescence and adolescence for the child to seek to be different from, and often opposed to, caregivers -- usually the parents. How the child seeks to be different from the parent may cover a range of qualities and characteristics, be it some aspect of the parent's personality, intellectual pursuits, behavior tendencies, social, political or cultural beliefs, even hobbies. A more global form of counteridentification is "counterwill," which numerous theorists conceptualize as the natural tendency to oppose anything or any person that makes demands on us, especially those demands that compromise our own uniqueness or individuality.