GUILT, TRANSFERENCE AND PERSONALITY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

If, on one hand, personality is a predictor of the transference (Bradley, 2005; Colli, 2016; Tanzilli, 2017), according to the Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Weiss, 1993; Silberschatz, 2005; Gazzillo, 2016) this relationship is influenced, and mediated, among other factors, by interpersonal guilt (Bush, 2005). Following this theory, guilt is an interpersonal and prosocial emotion that become dysfunctional when alimented by pathogenic beliefs (i.e. beliefs that associate a healthy and pleasurable goal with a danger or the worry to hurt a significative one). The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between interpersonal guilt, transference and personality. The tools used are: the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 (Gazzillo et al., 2017) to assess interpersonal guilt; the Personality Relationship Questionnaire (Bradley, 2005; Tanzilli, 2017) to assess transference dimensions; and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Prototypes (Gazzillo et al., 2010) to assess personality disorders/styles. Preliminary analyses showed significant relationships between different kinds of interpersonal guilt, transference dimensions and personalities styles. We investigated the relationship between transference and interpersonal guilt with the Generalized Estimated Equations and found positive and significative relationships between these constructs. Then, we repeated the model to see the relationship between these variables and personality. For example, the dependent personality disorder seems to be related to positive/working alliance, anxious/preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. It is also related to separation guilt, that is in turn related to anxious/preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. These results support the hypothesis that guilt and transference are connected and may be both considered expressions of personality. Future research will investigate the mediational role of guilt in the transference-personality relationship