Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Process Research

A quick ride through what you should know about process (research)

Bibliographic Data

ID8984331
AuthorsMichael B Buchholz (0000-0003-2240-1430, Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume64
Issue5
Pages798-822
Publication date2019-10-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Analytical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8774 • E-ISSN: 1465-5922
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-5922.12547
PMID31659766
OpenAlexW2982425467
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited65

This paper gives an overview of psychoanalytic process research, which brings to light the complexity of psychotherapy sessions. This complexity is so rich that many instruments intended to make the process measurable failed in the past because they initially used a strategy of complexity reduction. This method however did not help to further our understanding of the complexity involved. Three former presidents of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (Stiles, Hill, Elliot 2015) decided to solve the following equivalence paradox: many therapies work successfully though they all follow different theories, produce a heterogeneity of processes and often enough a misfit between what theories maintain to be a good process and their realization in the treatment room. As theories are often compared to maps, a driver would wonder which route to take. But therapists-as-drivers go undaunted - and nevertheless achieve their goals together with their patients. Norcross and Wampold (2018) found that good therapists invent new therapies with every new patient. They hypothesize that it is because of conversation. This is in accord with the 3 former presidents' proposal to return to detailed single case analyses including the micro-analytic power of conversation analysis of which a few insights are outlined in this article

Conversation · Epistemology · Process (computing · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychodynamic psychotherapy · Psychodynamics · Psychotherapist · Wonder · Computer Science · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy

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