Others’ Work

(This section is organized alphabetically by first author.)

Ablon, J., & Jones, E. E. (1998). How expert clinicians’ prototypes of an ideal treatment correlate with outcome in psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Psychotherapy Research,Psychother Res 8, 71–83.

Demonstrating how what a treatment is called by therapists, and how it benefits patients, may be two quite different matters. New methodology for assessing the processes of therapy combine with outcome assessment.

 

Ablon, J. S., Levy, R.A., & Katzenstein, T. (2006). Beyond Brand Names of Psychotherapy: Identifying Empirically Supported Change Processes. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 43, 216-231.

A particularly clear discussion of how knowing the name of a therapy does not begin to do an adequate job of assessing its nature and impact on the patient.

 

Axelrod, S., Naso, R. & Rosenberg, L. Eds.Progress in Psychoanalysis: Envisioning the Future of the Profession.  Routledge, 2018.

An up-to-date look at the current state of psychoanalysis through the eyes of a number of experts.

 

Bettelheim, B. 1982. Freud and Man’s Soul. Random House, New York.

The author, a psychoanalyst and native German speaker, traces out ways Freud’s ideas and down-to-earth style became distorted in translation into English, in the direction of attempting to be more ’scientific’. For example, the German term Freud used for the unconscious mind should be translated as “the It”. More evocative and less scientific sounding than the Id.

 

Blatt, S.J. & Shahar, G. (2004). Psychoanalysis – with whom, for what, and how? Comparisons with psychotherapy. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 52, 393-447.

Connolly, M.B. & Strupp, H.H. (1996). Cluster Analysis of Patient Reported Psychotherapy Outcomes. Psychotherapy Research, 6: 30-42.

This study explores the varieties of perceived benefits including changes in self-concept. A careful effort to determine what categories of changes patients actually appreciate after the treatment. Leads to a much broader notion of the benefits of psychotherapy than simply symptom removal.

 

Erikson, Erik (1963). Childhood and Society, 2^nd Edition, New York, W.W. Norton.

This ground-breaking book, outlining the eight ages of man, had widespread impact on our views about development.

 

Fischer, Newell (2011). Nine Lives: Nine Case Histories Reflecting the Human Condition. New York, NY, Vantage Press.

A well written account of changes occurring in the course of extended treatments.

 

Frank, Jerome D. and Frank, Julia B. (1991). Persuasion and Healing. Baltimore: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy, 3rd edition.  Johns Hopkins University Press.

A wide-ranging discussion of the relationships of mind and body, individual and culture, with findings centering on the role of the healer in a wide variety of cultures, and the universal feature of demoralization and ways of restoring hope.

 

 

Freud, Anna (1936). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Revised edition 1966, New York, International Universities Press.

Provides a systematic description of defenses that was seminal in influencing technique, and still has relevance today.

 

Grande, T., Keller, W and Rudolf, G. (2012). What happens after treatment: Can structural change be a predictor of long-term outcome? Chapter in Levy, R., Ablon, J.S. & Kächele, H. [Eds] Psychodynamic psychotherapy research: Evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence. (pp. 169-183).Totowa, NJ, US: Humana Press – Springer.

This report comes from the Hamburg based Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis group, whose very thorough and well thought out measures of psychological functioning developed over more than 30 years deserve careful study, as their methods are complex, but very sound.

 

Gill, M. (1982). Analysis of Transference (Vol. 1). Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

A systematic discussion of approaching the patient’s reactions to the therapist or therapeutic situation as a means of bringing the patient’s core difficulties more into focus in the treatment.

 

Greenberg, Leslie S. (2016) Emotion-Focused Therapy (Theories of Psychotherapy), Amazon.

Provides a current overview of the role of emotions in cure, in a well-established and articulated version of therapy focusing particularly on emotions.

 

Haidt, Jonathan. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York, Random House

Thoroughly explores the way humans are inclined to view their decisions and views as coming from the conscious part of their minds, whereas the evidence is overwhelming that the unconscious part rules mostly.

 

Hilsenroth, Mark J; Blagys, Matthew D; Ackerman, Steven J; Bonge, Dennis R; Blais, Mark A. (2005). Measuring Psychodynamic-Interpersonal and Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques: Development of the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 42, 340-356. 

A 20 item scale very well developed and described, touching on typical features of psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapy.

 

Høglend, P. Hersoug, A.G., Bøgwald, K.P., Amlo, S., Marble, A., Sørbye, Ø., Røssberg, J.I.,, Ulberg, R., Gabbard, G. & Crits-Christoph, P. (2011). Effects of Transference Work in the Context of Therapeutic Alliance and Quality of Object Relations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology  79, 697–706.

A randomized controlled study of the effect of transference work (addressing the patient’s reaction to the analyst or analytic situation) on the course of treatment in the first 100 sessions. The authors demonstrated that, for those patients who had more difficulty in their relationships, the transference work enhanced the results of psychotherapy. A unique study.

The definition of “transference work” is also succinct and explains why such work may be viewed as central:  “[F]ocusing on the themes and conflicts that arise in the therapeutic relationship will have immediate affective resonance and illuminate the true nature of problems in the patient’s relationships outside of therapy (Kernberg, Diamond, Yeomans, Clarkin and Levy, 2008: Strachey, 1934). . . Analysis of transference may increase insight regarding intrapsychic conflicts and problematic relations, which may in turn lead to better adaptive and interpersonal functioning (Gabbard and Westen, 2003; McGlashan and Miller, 1982; Messer and McWilliams, 2007; Strachey, 1934).” (p.698).

 

Howard, K.I., Lueger, R.J., Maling, M.S. & Martinovich, Z. (1993).  A Phase Model of Psychotherapy Outcome: Causal Mediation of Change. J. Consult. & Clin. Psychol. 61, 678-685.

Remoralization, then symptom reduction, and finally character change.

Jaffe, L. (2021). Freud and Therapeutic Action Reconsidered: Current Applications. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 69, 573-593. 

A reconsideration of the varieties of therapeutic action and the way Freud had considered them all at different times of his life. In this way the author integrates different mechanisms of action which may be found in a variety of therapeutic modalities, and argues that they need not be automatically considered antithetical to one another. The role of working through is particularly emphasized. 

 

Jones, E.E. & Pulos, S.M. (1993). Comparing the Process in Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61, 306-316.

Reports the development of the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set, a 100 item instrument which has been used widely since to evaluate differences among various therapies.

 

 

Josephs, L., Anderson, E., Bernard, A., Fatzer, K. and Streich, J. (2004). Assessing Progress in Analysis Interminable. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 52, 1185-1214.

(Abstract) A case study is provided of a schizoid patient in her mid-sixties who in a lengthy analysis had made significant clinical improvement. The treating analyst’s impression of clinical improvement was independently verified through systematic analysis of transcripts of audiotapes of thirty-six sessions over a four-year period of treatment. The patient showed significant improvement on measures of character pathology, object relations, mentalization, and superego anxiety. The results suggest that some patients with entrenched character pathology who seem to be in analysis interminable may still make clinically significant improvement. It is suggested that the scientific status of psychoanalysis would be greatly enhanced if the anecdotal evidence generated in private practice were supported by independent verification. The current study illustrates one methodology, “case study plus,” for providing independent verification while retaining the richness of the traditional case study.

Lane, R.D. & Garfield, D.A. (2005) Becoming Aware of Feelings: Integration of Cognitive-Developmental, Neuroscientific, and Psychoanalytic Perspectives. Neuro-Psychoanalysis 7, 5-30.

This presentation integrates perspectives on how increasing awareness of feelings functions within the brain to provide provide the opportunity to alter preconceptions with ensuing therapeutic benefit.

 

Leichsenring, F., & Leibing, E. (2003). The Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy in the Treatment of Personality Disorders: a Meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1223.

(From the Abstract) The authors conducted a meta-analysis to address the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of personality disorders. METHOD: Studies of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy that were published between 1974 and 2001 were collected. Only studies that 1) used standardized methods to diagnose personality disorders, 2) applied reliable and valid instruments for the assessment of outcome, and 3) reported data that allowed calculation of within-group effect sizes or assessment of personality disorder recovery rates were included. Fourteen studies of psychodynamic therapy and 11 studies of cognitive behavior therapy were included. RESULTS: Psychodynamic therapy yielded a large overall effect size (1.46), with effect sizes of 1.08 found for self-report measures and 1.79 for observer-rated measures. For cognitive behavior therapy, the corresponding values were 1.00, 1.20, and 0.87. For more specific measures of personality disorder pathology, a large overall effect size (1.56) was seen for psychodynamic therapy. Two cognitive behavior therapy studies reported significant effects for more specific measures of personality disorder pathology. For psychodynamic therapy, the effect sizes indicate long-term rather than short-term change in personality disorders. CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence that both psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are effective treatments of personality disorders. Since the number of studies that could be included in this meta-analysis was limited, the conclusions that can be drawn are only preliminary. Further studies are necessary that examine specific forms of psychotherapy for specific types of personality disorders and that use measures of core psychopathology. Both longer treatments and follow-up studies should be included.

 

Leichsenring, F. & Rabung, S. (2008). Effectiveness of Long-term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: a Meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 300, 1551-1565.

(Modified from the Abstract) Twenty-three studies involving a total of 1053 patients were included (11 RCTs and 12 observational studies). According to comparative analyses of controlled trials, long term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (LTPP) showed significantly higher outcomes in overall effectiveness, target problems, and personality functioning than shorter forms of psychotherapy. With regard to overall effectiveness, a between-group effect size of 1.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-3.4) indicated that after treatment with LTPP patients with complex mental disorders on average were better off than 96% of the patients in the comparison groups (P=.002). According to subgroup analyses, LTPP yielded significant, large, and stable within-group effect sizes across various and particularly complex mental disorders (range, 0.78-1.98).

 

Leuzinger-Bohleber, M., Stuhr, U., Ruger, B., & Beutel, M. (2003) How to study the quality of psychoanalytic treatments and their long-term effects on patients’ well-being: a representative, multi-perspective follow-up study. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 84, 263-290.

This study of hundreds of patients about seven years after their analyses and psychotherapies is sensitive, in depth, yet methodologically sophisticated. One of the very best.

 

Levy, K.N., Meehan, K.B., Kelly, K.M., Reynoso, J.S., Weber, M., Clarkin, J.F., & Kernberg, O.F. (2006) Change in attachment patterns and reflective function in a randomized controlled trial of Transference Focused Psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 74, 1027-1040.

A superbly organized and executed study showing how the psychodynamic elements make a difference to outcome. Patients with severe and long-standing personality difficulties in psychoanalytic treatment improve significantly in their functioning and emotional health, and they do so by cultivating a greater ability to meaningfully reflect on themselves and others close to them.

 

Lingiardi, V. & McWilliams, N. eds.(2017)  Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (2^nd edition).New York and London, Guilford Press.

This comprehensive approach to diagnosis and assessment of the individual far surpasses the fragmented approach of the DSM, with a rich discussion of all major aspects of diagnosis from childhood to later life, and an extensive consideration of methods of evaluation, with case illustrations.

 

Lingiardi, V., Muzi, L., Tanzilli, A., & Carone, N. (2017). Do therapist’s subjective variables impact on psychodynamic psychotherapy outcomes? Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 25: 85-101.

A systematic review of studies examining the complex interactions between therapist attachment styles, interpersonal history, and other factors affecting therapists’ subjective self-concept on the one hand, with similar patient personality factors on the other. By attending to one’s own ‘subjective variables’ as a therapist, one can construct interventions better suited to the patient’s needs in treatment.

 

Malan, D. H. (1976).The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy: an Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice. New York/London: Plenum.

A brilliant delineation of the tripod of therapeutic activity, linking the feelings and reactions to the therapist, to contemporary extratherapeutic issues, and to the developmental past.

 

McCarthy, K. & Barber, J. (2009). The Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions (MULTI): Initial report. Psychotherapy Research 19: 96-113.

A 60 item scale derived from study of eight variants of psychotherapy:  (behavioral, cognitive, dialectical-behavioral, interpersonal, person centered, psychodynamic, process- experiential, and common factors). Developed so that assessments could be made from multiple perspectives (patient, therapist, observer). We have re-classified the items in accordance with our view that many items belong under psychodynamic because this is the original form of therapy, as discussed in “Why do we focus on psychoanalysis in the “home” tab. We found that there were 9 items we kept under “common elements”, then 33 under psychodynamic (although some of those had been discouraged by various psychoanalytic theoreticians through the years), then another 18 classified as “CBT” broadly conceived. Click here for the original and our reclassified list of the 60 items of the MULTI.

 

McWilliams, N. 2011. Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process. Guilford, New York and London. 

A remarkably clear book representing the best of the humanistic tradition in working with patients.

 

Milrod, B., Leon, A.C., Busch, F., Rudden, M., Schwalberg, M., Clarkin, J., Aronson, A., Singer, M., Turchin, W., Klass, E.T., Graf, E., Teres, J.J. & Shear, M.K. (2007) A randomized controlled clinical trial of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for panic disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 164: 265-272.

This randomized study of the results of twice-weekly panic focused therapy compared to a version of cognitive therapy often used to treat panic attacks, each lasting for 24 sessions, is noteworthy for the sophistication of its design.

 

Norcross, J. And Lambert, M. eds. (2019).Psychotherapy Relationships that Work Vol. 1 Evidence-Based Therapist Contributions. Oxford Universities Press, New York.

Extensive updating of the 2011 volume.

 

Norcross, J. And Wampold, B. eds. (2019). Psychotherapy Relationships that Work Vol. 2 Evidence-Based Therapist Contributions. Oxford Universities Press, New York.

Extensive updating of the 2011 volume.

 

Norcross, John C.  Ed. (2011) Psychotherapy Relationships That Work: Evidence – Based Responsiveness. New York, Oxford University Press.

This volume is a brilliantly written report stemming from a task force of the American Psychological Association Committee on Psychotherapy. Summarizing the entire field, there are also detailed meta analyses across the spectrum of psychotherapy. The first and last chapters do an admirable job summarizing the findings.

 

Paniagua, C. (1985). A Methodological Approach to Surface Material. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 12, 311-325.

A rather brilliant exposition of how one can attentively arrive at a deeper understanding of the patient based upon scrutiny of what can be seen and heard.

 

Perry, J. Christopher; Høglend, Per. (1998). Convergent and discriminant validity of overall defensive functioning. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease..186, 529-535.

Description of the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scale (DMRS), which in turn leads to a useful measure of psychological health called Overall Defensive Functioning.

 

Roy, C.A., Perry, J.C., Luborsky, L. and Banon, E. (2009). Changes in Defensive Functioning in Completed Psychoanalyses: the Penn Psychoanalytic Treatment Collection. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 57: 399-415.

Using 17 recorded psychoanalyses, now included in the PRC collection, the authors show that when outcome is measured by well-established methods there is a substantial overlap of changes in defenses and the direction of greater health. The article is also useful for its description of other studies of changes in defenses and other aspects of adaptation with psychotherapy.

 

Sandell, R., Blomberg, J., Lazar, A., Carlsson, J., Broberg, J. & Schubert, J. (2000). Varieties of long-term outcome among patients in psychoanalysis and long-term psychotherapy: a review of findings in the Stockholm outcome of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy project (STOPPP). International Journal of Psychoanalysis: 81: 921-942.

A complicated study to understand fully, but of the highest quality, showing that the benefits of more intensive work (in comparison with infrequent sessions) begin to show only as the years go on. There are other findings in regard to therapists who attempt to conduct therapy too much like classical analysis, to the detriment of their patients.

 

 

Vaughan, Susan C. (1998). The Talking Cure: The Science Behind Psychotherapy. Grosset/Putnam.

A vivid application of neuroscience findings to appreciation of the role of experience, including experience within the therapy hour, as they contribute to transforming habitual patterns in the patient.

 

Vaillant,George E. (2012). Triumphs of experience: The men of the Harvard Grant Study. Cambridge, MA, US: Harvard University Press.

Two hundred sixty-eight men from the classes of 1939 to 1942 were followed as long as they lived or into their nineties with a variety of measures of physical and mental health, in a unique study

 

Wallerstein, R. (1986) Forty-Two Lives in Treatment: A Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.(746 pages) and Wallerstein, R.S. (1989) The Psychotherapy Research Project of the Menninger Foundation: an overview. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57 (2), 195-205.

This monumental, sophisticated and thorough clinical study is fascinating reading. The short version is in the second reference. Patients benefited substantially (see WALDRON, S. Book Review: (1989) Psychoanalytic Quarterly 58: pp. 643-647 for an interesting way of assessing the degree of benefit). Two limitations: there was no comparison group, and there was no recording of the treatments to make possible detailed process assessments. Nevertheless, the study demonstrated strikingly that long term change took place as much with supportive elements as insight.

 

Wampold, B. E. (2001). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Models, Methods, and Findings.  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bruce Wampold is an incisive and creative thinker who is also brilliant in detecting the flaws and weak points of arguments put forward on one side or another of the psychotherapy wars, Very informative.

 

Werbart, A., Hagertz, M., & Olander, N.B. (2018). Matching patient and therapist anaclitic-introjective personality configurations matters for psychotherapy outcomes. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 48: 241-251.

This study examined patients and their therapists, according to Blatt’s theory of personality development, and differential personality patterns emphasizing either relatedness or self-definition. The authors found that convergent patterns in patient and therapist were associated with more robust treatment outcomes, and they suggest additional attention and intervention in patients known to differ from therapists in these respects, in order to collaborate effectively in psychotherapy.

 

Westen, D., Novotny, C.M., & Thompson-Brenner, H. (2004). The empirical status of empirically supported psychotherapies: Assumptions, findings, and reporting in controlled clinical trials. Psychological Bulletin. 130: 631-663.

These writers demonstrate the inadequacy of the empirically supported approach to benefit, from a variety of convincing perspectives.