Changes in implicit God representations after psychotherapy for patients diagnosed with a personality disorder. Associations with changes in explicit God representations, distress and object-relational functioning

ABSTRACT Research has demonstrated that maladaptive relational functioning of patients suffering from personality disorders is associated with more negative God representations. This study demonstrated with a single group design among a group of 37 Christian patients with personality disorders, that changes in implicit God representations during psychotherapy, as assessed with the recently developed implicit Apperception Test God Representations (ATGR), were associated with changes in explicit God representations and object-relational functioning, but not in distress. Changes in explicit distress were associated with changes in explicit God representations. Results of cross-lagged analyses suggested that object-relational functioning affected God representations more than vice versa.