The mediating role of insight for long-term improvements in psychodynamic therapy.

Objective: According to psychoanalytic theory, interpretation of transference leads to increased insight that again leads to improved interpersonal functioning over time. In this study, we performed a full mediational analysis to test whether insight gained during treatment mediates the long-term effects of transference interpretation in dynamic psychotherapy.

Method: This study is a randomized clinical trial with a dismantling design.

Transference interpretations in dynamic psychotherapy: do they really yield sustained effects?

Objective: Transference interpretation has remained a core ingredient in the psychodynamic tradition, despite limited empirical evidence for its effectiveness. In this study, the authors examined long-term effects of transference interpretations.

Method: This was a randomized controlled clinical trial, dismantling design, plus follow-up evaluations 1 year and 3 years after treatment termination.

Analysis of the patient-therapist relationship in dynamic psychotherapy: an experimental study of transference interpretations.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of transference interpretations (the assumed core active ingredient) in dynamic psychotherapy, using an experimental design.

Method: One hundred patients were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received dynamic psychotherapy over 1 year, with a moderate level of transference interpretations, while the other group received dynamic psychotherapy with no transference interpretations.