lnu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Patient Attachment and Reflective Functioning as Predictors for Therapist In-Session Feelings
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2486-6859
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology.
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology.
Linköping University, Sweden.
Show others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Journal of counseling psychology, ISSN 0022-0167, E-ISSN 1939-2168, Vol. 71, no 3, p. 190-201Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Therapists' in-session feelings in psychotherapy can be seen as indications of the development of the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic process. To manage them appropriately, it is important to know to what extent they may be influenced by patients' pretreatment characteristics. This study aims to improve the understanding of therapists' emotional reactions in the psychotherapeutic setting by investigating if patients' pretreatment mentalization ability and attachment style predicted therapist in-session feelings. In a sample of 87 therapy dyads treated with interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, patient attachment was measured using self-reported Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) and mentalization using Reflective Functioning (RF). ECR and RF were hypothesized to predict therapist feelings measured by the Feeling Word Checklist-24 at different treatment phases over the full course of treatment. Treatment method, patient age, gender, and pretreatment depression were evaluated as potential confounders. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. Lower RF in patients predicted more negative therapist feelings in the mid- to late-treatment phases and less positive feelings in the late-treatment phase. Self-reported attachment anxiety or avoidance did not predict therapist feelings. Findings indicate that patients' ability to mentalize is important to consider when conducting psychotherapy, as it can influence therapists' feelings in the therapeutic process. Limitations of the present study's approach are discussed, and directions for future research are considered.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Psychological Association (APA), 2024. Vol. 71, no 3, p. 190-201
Keywords [en]
therapist feelings, attachment, reflective functioning, mentalization, psychotherapy
National Category
Applied Psychology
Research subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-128127DOI: 10.1037/cou0000726ISI: 001162465400001PubMedID: 38358677Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85188760884OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-128127DiVA, id: diva2:1842763
Available from: 2024-03-06 Created: 2024-03-06 Last updated: 2024-04-04Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Falkenström, Fredrik

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Falkenström, Fredrik
By organisation
Department of Psychology
In the same journal
Journal of counseling psychology
Applied Psychology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 37 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf