Transference focused psychotherapy: Overview and update

Otto F. Kemberg, Frank E. Yeomans, John F. Clarkin, Kenneth N. Levy

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

201 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes a specific psychoanalytic psychotherapy for patients with severe personality disorders, its technical approach and specific research projects establishing empirical evidence supporting its efficacy. This treatment derives from the findings of the Menninger Foundation Psychotherapy Research project, and applies a model of contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory as its theoretical foundation. The paper differentiates this treatment from alternative psychoanalytic approaches, including other types of psychoanalytic psychotherapy as well as standard psychoanalysis, and from three alternative non-analytical treatments prevalent in the treatment of borderline patients, namely, dialectic behavior therapy, supportive psychotherapy based on psychoanalytic theory, and schema focused therapy. It concludes with indications and contraindications to this particular therapeutic approach derived from the clinical experience that evolved in the course of the sequence of research projects leading to the empirical establishment of its efficacy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)601-620
Number of pages20
JournalInternational Journal of Psychoanalysis
Volume89
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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