Exploring In-Session Focus on the Patient-Therapist Relationship: Patient Characteristics, Process and Outcome

Exploring In-Session Focus on the Patient-Therapist Relationship : Patient Characteristics, Process and Outcome

This study explored the amount of in-session focus on the patienttherapist relationship during early treatment with patient pre-treatment interpersonal style, personality pathology, patient ratings of session process and outcome. The sample consisted of 76 outpatients engaged in short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. Results showed that higher levels of pre-treatment personality pathology and interpersonal problems were positively related to a greater focus on the patienttherapist relationship early in treatment. This was especially true for patients with a cold/distant interpersonal style and low self-esteem. Moreover, these two patient pre-treatment characteristics demonstrated a significant change over the course of therapy. These post-treatment changes also demonstrated a significant relationship with greater early treatment focus on the patienttherapist relationship. In addition, we found an interaction effect between quality of object relations (i.e., higher levels of object relations) and greater early treatment focus on the patienttherapist relationship with subsequent changes in patient cold/distant interpersonal problems. Greater in-session focus on the therapeutic relationship was not significantly related to patient ratings of session process. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Ingår i:Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy: Wiley19:3, s. 187-2021063-39951099-0879

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