Transference interventions in psychodynamic psychotherapy for adolescent depression: a qualitative study

Psychodynamic therapy is based on the understanding that past experiences, relationships, and unconscious conflicts can influence a person's current behavior and mental state. Transference is a central construct in psychodynamic psychotherapy, which refers to the emotions and attitudes that the patient attributes to the therapist. These emotions shape the patient's perception of both the therapist and the therapeutic process. Emphasizing and exploring how transferential phenomena manifest within the therapeutic relationship is assumed to have a beneficial therapeutic effect. The primary aim of the present qualitative study was to identify examples of such transference interventions in short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adolescents diagnosed with depression.

Examples of transference interventions were identified from randomly selected sessions, as well as from two therapies with good outcomes.

Transference interventions were used to a moderate extent and were primarily aimed at encouraging patients to reveal and discuss their thoughts and feelings about the therapist and the therapy.

Transference interventions in psychotherapy with adolescents with depression seemed mostly to be preparatory and directly relevant to the young person's present, everyday life. The interventions were often posed as open question.