Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 50(4), 639–658, 2022 © 2022 The American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis Clinical Article The Plan Formulation Method from Control Mastery Theory and Management of Countertransference Francesco Gazzillo, Marshall Bush, and David Kealy Abstract: The aim of this article is to show how the plan formulation method (PFM), an empirically validated method for case formulation based on control mastery theory (CMT), can help clinicians make sense of and use what they feel during sessions to better understand and treat their patients. We give a brief overview of the main psychoanalytic conceptions about coun- tertransference, provide a brief introduction to CMT, and describe the concept of the plan and the PFM. We then show, using several brief clinical examples, how the components of the plan (patient’s goals, pathogenic beliefs, traumas, tests, and insights) may help understand clinicians’ in-session feelings. Keywords: countertransference, clinicians’ emotions, control mastery theory, plan formulation method, testing INTRODUCTION In this article we present a comprehensive model for understand- ing and making use of clinicians’ in-session emotional reactions that is based on the plan formulation method (PFM; Curtis & Silberschatz, 2007), an empirically validated procedure for case formulation and treatment planning based on control-mastery theory (CMT; Gazzillo, 2021; Weiss, 1993; Weiss et al., 1986). In contrast to other models, CMT Francesco Gazzillo, Ph.D., is affliated with the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies at the “Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy. Marshall Bush, Ph.D., is affliated with the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, California, United States. David Kealy, Ph.D., is affliated with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Disclosure: The authors declare no conficts of interest.