ABSTRACT

Psychoanalytic Studies of Change presents recent studies of the process and outcome of psychoanalytic therapy with an integrative perspective.

A recurrent challenge in the discussion of therapeutic outcome is the gap between empirical, quantitative studies, reporting results on a group level, and the clinician’s interest in complex mechanisms of change presupposing microanalysis of dynamic interaction processes. This book bridges that gap via dynamic contributions from a variety of authors. Quantitative and qualitative studies are connected, epistemological and conceptual research is emphasized as specific domains, and in-depth clinical case studies are highlighted. The book comprises several new contributions to epistemology and conceptual research, as well as chapters discussing the challenge of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in studying process and outcome.

Psychoanalytic Studies of Change will not only meet a need specifically within psychoanalysis for up-to-date research but also provide an overview of the latest empirical research on psychoanalysis for a broader clinical and academic group of readers. It will appeal to psychoanalysts in practice and in training.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

In search of change

part I|81 pages

Process and outcome

chapter 1|15 pages

Trajectory of change in the individual and the diagnostic group

Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) and the treatment of personality pathology

chapter 2|15 pages

Clinical outcome and process research in the MODE study 1

From the psychoanalysis of a young man in emerging adulthood

chapter 3|13 pages

Changes in dreams – an indicator for transformation processes in psychoanalysis

Clinical outcome and process research in the MODE study

chapter 4|12 pages

In Kandel's footsteps

Epigenetics and therapeutic change

part II|50 pages

Conceptual studies

chapter 9|14 pages

The mechanism of change in the ‘talking cure’

A neuropsychoanalytic perspective

chapter 10|11 pages

In search of change

The role of affirmation

part IV|48 pages

In search of methods