Transference and client attachment to therapist in psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Abstract

Although there are theorized connections between client transference and their attachment to their therapists (Bowlby, 1969/1982), limited empirical research exists examining their association over the course of psychotherapy. We thus examined the association between positive and negative transference and client attachment to therapist across the course of open-ended psychodynamic psychotherapy for 49 cases with doctoral student therapists and adult community clients who had at least 32 sessions. Using a Bayesian multilevel structural equation model framework, results indicated that client secure attachment increased and avoidant-fearful attachment decreased across the course of psychotherapy. For clients with higher preoccupied-merger attachment at the beginning of therapy, therapists perceived more fluctuation in negative transference over time than for clients with other attachment styles. Implications for research, practice, and therapist training are offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).