The Mediating Effects of Mentalization and Emotional Clarity on the Relationship Between Counselors' Avoidant Attachment and Countertransference Behaviors

Objectives This study analyzed the mediating effects of mentalization and emotional clarity in the relationship between counselors' avoidant attachment and countertransference behaviors. Methods A survey was conducted with 339 counselors, and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 29.0 and PROCESS Macro 4.0. Descriptive statistics identified participants' demographic characteristics, Cronbach's α assessed the reliability of each variable, Pearson correlation analysis examined relationships between variables, and PROCESS Macro Model 6 tested the sequential mediating effects. The statistical significance of mediating effects was verified through bootstrapping. Results First, Mentalization fully mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and countertransference behaviors. Second, Emotional clarity also fully mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and countertransference behaviors. Third, Both mentalization and emotional clarity sequentially mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and countertransference behaviors. Conclusions These findings suggest that counselors with high avoidant attachment can reduce countertransference behaviors by enhancing their mentalization abilities, which in turn improves emotional clarity. This underscores the importance of mentalization and emotional clarity in mitigating countertransference behaviors. Based on these results, the study discusses implications and suggests directions for future research.