| dc.description.abstract | A review of the clinical literature on transference indicates that considerable controversy exists over the meaning of the term» Its relationship to another,- more recently defined therapeutic variable - the treatment alliance- is discussed, and it is suggested that much of the disagreement as to the nature of transference stems from its confusion with the concept of treatment alliance.
Relatively few empirical studies are to be found on the subject of transference,, a fact which may be due to the failure of psychoanalytic theorists to state their hypotheses in a clearly testable manner. However, two recent studies have attempted its investigation with the use of repertory grid technique (Sechrest,1965: Crisp,1964,1965,1966)» It is concluded that these writers were making the incorrect assumption that transference reactions are to be found in all patients at any point in therapy, or indeed in individuals not in therapy at all.
The aim of the present investigation was to study the phenomenon further by comparing a psychiatric assessment of transference with a psychological measure derived from repertory grid testing, and to re-examine the findings of Crisp and Sechrest. A number of psychiatrists were asked to specify patients in whom they considered a definite transference relationship was occurring. Attention was concentrated on two particular aspects of the transference phenomenon - the 'evaluative’ component (i.e. the extent to which the patient expresses positive or negative feelings towards the therapist) and the 'figural' component (i.e. the extent to which the therapist is identified with a specific figure from the patient’s life situation).
Six psychiatrists and ten patients took, part in the study. The psychiatrists were provided with a rating form on which to assess the transference situation. A repertory grid test was applied to the patients,, from which transference measures were derived. The psychiatric and patient ratings, were then compared. Both measures were re-applied two weeks later to assess whether any changes in transference had taken place, and to evaluate the stability of the repertory grid during this period.
The results were as follows: -
1) The repertory grid test proved to be highly stable (in terms of structure and content of the first principal component) over the two week period.
2) Analysis of the psychiatric rating scale indicated that therapists tended to propose ’real’ or ’ideal’ parents as transference figures.
3) A comparison of the psychiatric and patient ’evaluative* scales showed that, while both tended to be positive and stable between test and retest, they were not significantly correlated. Some evidence was obtained to suggest that the therapists were successful in predicting the direction of small changes in the patients’ evaluation of them.
4) There was no relationship between the transference figure which the therapist proposed and the position of that figure (relative to the therapist) on the patient’s repertory grid. Furthermore, no evidence was obtained for the Freudian hypothesis that the therapist was likely to be identified with the patient’s father or mother.
5) Repertory grid test results indicated that patients tended to see the therapist as similar to ’ideal father’, 'ideal self’ and ’G.Rs in general', and as dissimilar to negative figures in their lives. These findings provided some support for both Crisp's and Sechrest's studies.
The extent to which repertory grid tests can provide an adequate measure of the transference phenomenon is discussed. It is also suggested that the concept of transference may have little usefulness as a therapeutic variable in non-analytic settings, and alternative measures of the patient-therapist relationship are proposed. | en |
