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The Effects of the Therapist's Disengaged Feelings on the In‐Session Process in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Author(s) -
Ulberg Randi,
Amlo Svein,
Hersoug Anne Grete,
Dahl HanneSofie Johnsen,
Høglend Per
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22088
Subject(s) - psychology , feeling , psychotherapist , session (web analytics) , psychodynamics , psychodynamic psychotherapy , interpersonal communication , interpersonal relationship , clinical psychology , social psychology , world wide web , computer science
The primary aim of this article was to explore the effects of the therapist's disengaged feelings (i.e., bored, tired of, sleepy, indifferent, aloof) in psychodynamic therapy. The Transference Work Scale was used in combination with the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales and Structural Analyses of Social Behavior to explore the in‐session process in 2 therapies with female patients with interpersonal problems. Analyses showed differences in in‐session processes (i.e., defense mechanisms; transference work; degree of affiliation and interdependence in the dialogue) and treatment outcome between therapies characterized by a low versus a higher degree of disengaged feelings. Compared to the case with the engaged therapist, the disengaged therapist showed poorer interaction and less response to transference and defense interpretation. When aware of their disengaged feelings, therapists are advised to encourage their patients to discuss the patient–therapist interaction.