Countertransference responses mediate the relationship between patients' overall defense functioning and therapists' interventions.

6533b859fe1ef96bd12b80e4

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Countertransference responses mediate the relationship between patients' overall defense functioning and therapists' interventions.

Antonello Colli Salvatore Gullo Giulia Gagliardini

subject

Male Psychotherapist patient defense Emotions Psychological intervention Hostility therapist interventions Intervention level Personality Disorders countertransference medicine Humans Countertransference mediation analysis countertransference; hostility; interpretations; mediation analysis; patient defenses; therapist interventions interpretation interpretations patient defenses hostility mediation analysi Professional-Patient Relations Psychotherapy Clinical Psychology Female medicine.symptom Countertransference Psychology

description

Objective: The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between therapists' techniques (supportive/expressive intervention level - ESIL), therapists' countertransference (CT) and patients' defense level of functioning (ODF). We hypothesized that CT could play a mediating role in the relationship between patients' ODF and therapists' ESIL. Method: 65 psychotherapy sessions were rated by two different raters each with the Psychodynamic Interventions Rating Scale and the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scale. Clinicians used the Therapist Response Questionnaire to provide information on their CT. The 65 sessions referred to 65 clinicians (25 = females, 40 = males; 38 = psychodynamic, 27 = cognitive). More than half of the patients (n = 40; 61.5%) had a diagnosis of personality disorder. Among clinical disorders the most frequent were mood (n = 12) and anxiety disorders (n = 11). Five patients had no diagnosis. Results: Four CT responses (parental; positive; criticized; overinvolved) completely mediated the relationship between patients' ODF and therapists' ESIL, while no effect resulted in relation to overwhelmed, helpless, sexualized and disengaged CTs. No effect of theoretical orientations on mediation pathways was found. Conclusion: Both positive and negative CT feelings seemed to play a crucial role in the relationship between therapists' interventions and patients' ODF.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2021-02-15	Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research

10.1080/10503307.2021.1884768 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33588699