This project is a process-outcome study in psychotherapy research. It aims to examine the role of countertransference behavior in different forms of long-term psychotherapy.
Our source data are audio recordings of therapy sessions as well as outcome and process data from the Munich Psychotherapy Study (MPS; PI: Prof. Dorothea Huber; N = 100). The MPS is a quasi-experimental comparative outcome study on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in patients with depressive disorders.
In this study, we will use selected subscales of an observer-based instrument, the Interpersonal Transaction Scales (ITS-8; Sadler et al., 2020), to rate and quantify therapists' behavior in countertransference in MPS treatments. The ITS-8 is an observer-based scale based on the interpersonal circumplex model (Kiesler, 1983). During the assessment, trained and supervised raters listen to the recorded therapy sessions and indicate the extent to which certain types of interpersonal behavior are displayed by the therapists on a total of 48 items. The instrument covers a range of potentially therapy-inhibiting behaviors, such as engaging in power struggles, emotionally withdrawing, or showing boredom or cynicism. The design provides for the rating of a total of N = 300 therapy sessions from psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and CBT therapies. Three sessions are rated for each therapy. Following the observer ratings, we will statistically model predictors and outcomes of countertransference behavior.
Original language: German