Do Transference Interpretations Help? Do They Stick?

A basic tenet of psychodynamic psychotherapy is that interpretation of patients’ transference reactions toward their clinicians has therapeutic value. However, there is little experimental evidence to support this belief. Now, researchers report on the first-ever follow-up study of the long-term effects of transference interpretations in brief psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Previously, 100 patients in Norway seeking psychotherapy for symptoms of depression, anxiety, personality problems, and/or interpersonal problems had been randomized to a year-long course of weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy sessions with or without transference interpretations (JW Psychiatry Nov 13 2006). Psychiatrists or a psychologist provided psychotherapy, which was c…