title: Empirically Derived Relational Pattern Prototypes in the Treatment of Personality Disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient transference patterns play a central role in the psychotherapy of personality disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to: (1) explore the relationship between patients' personality disorders and specific relational patterns and (2) construct empirically derived prototypes of relational patterns for each personality disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  A random national sample of 314 clinicians completed the Psychotherapy Relationship Questionnaire, which evaluates patients' relational patterns, and the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200, which assesses personality disorders in a randomly selected patient currently in the clinician's care and with whom the clinician has worked for a minimum of 8 sessions and a maximum of 6 months (1 session per week).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The avoidant/counterdependent transference pattern was associated with all cluster A personality disorders; the angry/entitled transference pattern was strongly positively associated with all cluster B personality disorders, and the anxious/preoccupied transference pattern was positively associated in a significant way with all cluster C personality disorders. Moreover, our empirically derived prototypes showed how the transference phenomena characteristic of each personality disorder are strongly coherent with the personality traits and mental and relational functioning of each specific disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results strongly support a fundamental hypothesis that the patterns emerging in the therapeutic relationship are not arbitrary, and they clearly reflect patterns seen elsewhere in patients' lives that can be crucial to address. Regarding limitations, the same clinician provided data on both the personality pathology and the transference phenomena for each patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Urbino 'Carlo Bo', Urbino, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colli
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanzilli
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gualco
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lingiardi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014167:Transference, Psychology