Clinician reports of personality pathology of patients beginning and patients ending psychoanalysis.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to use a clinician Q-sort procedure to describe the personality pathology and adaptive functioning of patients beginning and ending psychoanalysis.


METHODS
With a cross-sectional design, we compared a group of patients beginning and a group of patients ending psychoanalysis.


METHODS
Twenty-six psychoanalysts described a patient beginning psychoanalysis and 26 described a patient ending psychoanalysis using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure 200 (SWAP-200). Each clinician also completed questions about themselves, the patient, and the treatment. The most characteristic SWAP-200 items describing patients beginning and patients ending psychoanalysis provide a meaningful picture of the two groups.


RESULTS
Among patients at the end of psychoanalysis, scores were significantly lower on the SWAP-200 Paranoid, Schizotypal, Borderline, Histrionic, and Dependent scales and scores were significantly higher on the SWAP-200 High functioning scale and the DSM-IV GAF scale. Common characteristics of patients beginning psychoanalysis were anxiety, guilt, and shame. Common characteristics of patients ending psychoanalysis were conscientiousness and responsibility, striving to live up to moral and ethical standards, and enjoyment of challenges.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings demonstrate the usefulness of a clinician report measure for the study of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
Cogan
Rosemary
R
Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 79409, USA. r.cogan@ttu.edu
Porcerelli
John H
JH
D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D011572:Psychoanalysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome