Related Experiment Videos
Objectivity in psychoanalytic judgements
R P Hobson1, M P Patrick, J D Valentine
1Developmental Psychopathology Research Unit, Tavistock Clinic, London.
The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science
|December 16, 1998
Summary
Psychoanalytic judgments of patient-therapist interactions are reliable, showing consistent ratings of interpersonal relations. These findings support the validity of psychoanalytic concepts in clinical practice.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Psychoanalysis
Background:
- Skepticism exists regarding the reliability and validity of psychoanalytic judgments in patient-therapist interactions.
- This study aimed to address this by examining psychotherapists' ratings of interpersonal relations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the agreement among dynamic psychotherapists in rating psychoanalytically relevant characteristics of subjects' interpersonal relations.
- To determine if inter-correlations among ratings align with psychoanalytic descriptions of 'paranoid-schizoid' and 'depressive position' states of mind.
- To investigate whether these ratings can differentiate between borderline and dysthymic groups.
Main Methods:
- Six trained psychotherapists rated interpersonal relatedness during the initial 30 minutes of 14 videotaped assessment interviews.
- Ratings were based on a 30-item 'personal relatedness profile'.
- Therapists were blind to the study design.
Main Results:
- Satisfactory interrater reliability was achieved among the psychotherapists.
- Evidence indicated that the rated items were interrelated.
- A significant difference was found between the borderline and dysthymic subject groups.
Conclusions:
- Psychoanalytic judgments regarding interpersonal relatedness can be made reliably.
- Findings suggest that 'paranoid-schizoid' and 'depressive position' aspects of psychological functioning form a meaningful, clinically grounded constellation.