title: Relationships between the object focus of therapist interpretations and outcome in short-term individual psychotherapy.
abstract: The relationships between the object (person) focus of therapist interpretations and outcome were examined for 21 patients who received short-term individual psychotherapy. Percentages of single objects and linked objects, e.g. therapist-parent link, were derived from an analysis of the therapy sessions. Patients, therapists and an independent assessor provided pre-therapy, post-therapy and six-month follow-up outcome scores. Contrary to other reports in the literature little evidence was found to support the hypothesis of a direct linear relationship between object focus and favourable outcome. Several explanations for the findings are discussed.
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D009769:Object Attachment; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief