Abstract

BITTENCOURT, Aline Alvares et al. Combining clinical method and empirical research to understand dropout in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Aletheia [online]. 2014, n.43-44, pp.147-159. ISSN 1413-0394.

This paper attempts to contribute to reducing the gap between clinical practice and empirical research in psychotherapy. Specifically, the study aims to examine dropout in psychoanalytic psychotherapy by formulating hypotheses about factors that may facilitate or hinder adherence to process. The initial sessions of two psychotherapies with Borderline Personality Disorder patients conducted by the same therapist are analyzed. The treatments have different outcomes: one had good compliance and the other was early interrupted. The initial sessions of both cases were videotaped and then encoded by pairs of independent judges with q-sort type instruments that assess different aspects of the therapeutic process. The results were integrated with the clinical method of psychoanalytic understanding and suggest that in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with borderline patients, the absence of typical behaviors in the initial process can be a sign of resistance and pseudo-collaboration.

Keywords : Psychotherapy process; Psychodynamic psychotherapy; Borderline personality disorder.

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