Transference patterns in the psychotherapy of personality disorders: empirical investigation

Abstract

BackgroundThe concept of transference has broadened to a recognition that patients often express enduring relational patterns in the therapeutic relationship.AimsTo examine the structure of patient relational patterns in psychotherapy and their relation with DSM–IV personality disorder symptoms.MethodA random sample of psychologists and psychiatrists (n=181) completed a battery of instruments on a randomly selected patient in their care.ResultsExploratory factor analysis identified five transference dimensions: angry/entitled, anxious/preoccupied, avoidant/counterdependent, secure/engaged and sexualised. These were associated in predictable ways with Axis II pathology; four mapped on to adult attachment styles. An aggregated portrait of transference patterns in narcissistic patients provided a clinically rich, empirically based description of transference processes that strongly resembled clinical theories.ConclusionsThe ways patients interact with their therapists can provide important data about their personality, attachment patterns and interpersonal functioning. These processes can be measured in clinically sophisticated and psychometrically sound ways. Such processes are relatively independent of clinicians' theoretical orientation.