Countertransference, transference and personality pathology: An empirical study

The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between transference and countertransference patterns and personality pathology. A sample of 30 randomly selected patients has been assessed by their cognitive psychotherapists with a battery of instruments including 1) the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (Westen, Shedler, 1999a) for personality traits and disorders; 2) the Countertransference Questionnaire (Betan et al., 2005) for countertransference patterns, 3) the Psychotherapy Relationship Questionnaire (Bradley et al., 2005) for transference patterns; and 4) the Symptom Check List Revised (Derogatis, 1983), to assess levels of psychopathology. Preliminary results suggest that countertransference and transference dimensions emerging in the therapeutic relationship are not arbitrary: clinicians’ responses to patients with specific types of personality pathology occur in coherent and predictable patterns (Dimaggio et al., 2007)