https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2015.174
Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report
Accepted: March 9, 2015
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Patients with narcissistic personality disorder are among the most difficult to treat in therapy, especially for their strong resistance to treatment and several difficulties in establishing a therapeutic relationship characterized by intimacy, safety, and trust. In particular, therapists’ emotional responses to these patients can be particularly intense and frustrating, as reported in the clinical literature but rarely investigated empirically.
The aims of this preliminary study were: 1) to examine the associations between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and distinct therapists’ countertransference patterns; and 2) to verify whether these clinicians’ emotional reactions were influenced by their theoretical orientation (as well as gender and age).
A national sample of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (N = 250) completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ) to identify patterns of therapist emotional response, and the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) to assess personality disorder and level of psychological functioning in a patient currently in their care and with whom they had worked for a minimum of eight sessions and a maximum of 6 months (one session per week).
From the complete therapist sample, we identified a subgroup (N = 35) of patients with narcissistic personality disorder, and we found that this personality pathology was positively associated with criticized/mistreated and disengaged countertransference, but negatively associated with positive therapist response. Moreover, our results confirmed that the relationship between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and therapists’ emotional responses was not dependent on clinicians’ theoretical approach (as well as their age and gender).
These findings are consistent with clinical observations, as well as some empirical contributions, and have meaningful implications for clinical practice of patients suffering from this challenging pathology.
How to Cite
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
Similar Articles
- Pedro Rodrigues Ribeiro, David Dias Neto, The real relationship: the Portuguese version of the Real Relationship Inventory-Client form , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 2 (2023)
- Joào F. Barreto, Paula Mena Matos, Balancing clinical risk with countertransference management protects alliance , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 20 No. 3 (2017)
- Rosaleen McElvaney, Andrina Monaghan, Christina Treacy, Naoise Delaney, Adolescents’ experiences of psychotherapy following child sexual abuse , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 2 (2023)
- Benedetto Farina, Marianna Liotti, Claudio Imperatori, Lucia Tombolini, Elena Gasperini, Paola Mallozzi, Marianna Russo, Giorgia Simoncini Malucelli, Fabio Monticelli, Cooperation within the therapeutic relationship improves metacognitive functioning: preliminary findings , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 3 (2023)
- Mahbobe Ghavidel Heydari, Mahmoud Shirazi, Gholam Reza Sanagouyemoharer, The effect of positive psychotherapy in test anxiety among Zahedan students with hemophilia , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 21 No. 1 (2018)
- Laura Parolin, Alberto Milesi, Giovanni Comelli, Francesca Locati, The interplay of mentalization and epistemic trust: a protective mechanism against emotional dysregulation in adolescent internalizing symptoms , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 3 (2023)
- Giorgio Falgares, Sandro De Santis, Salvatore Gullo, Danilo Carrozzino, Daniela Marchetti, Maria Cristina Verrocchio, Gianluca Lo Coco, Daniel Kopala-Sibley, Osmano Oasi, The Italian version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: psychometric properties and validation in students, community, and clinical groups , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 20 No. 1 (2017)
- Samuel F. Mikail, Paul L. Hewitt, Gordon L. Flett, Sabrina Ge, Group dynamic-relational therapy for perfectionism , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 25 No. 3 (2022): SPECIAL ISSUE: "Group psychotherapy: between settled benchmarks and new horizons"
- Giovanna Esposito, Viviana Perla, Raffaella Passeggia, Erik Fertuck, Erhard Mergenthaler, Reflective functioning and personal recovery process of users with borderline personality disorder on Instagram: an explorative study using computerized and thematic analysis , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 23 No. 3 (2020)
- Salvatore Gullo, Gianluca Lo Coco, Laura Salerno, Federica La Pietra, Vincenzo Bruno, A study of personality subtypes in treatment seeking obese patients , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 16 No. 2 (2013)
<< < 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 > >>
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
