Mb. Gurtman, INTERPERSONAL PROBLEMS AND THE PSYCHOTHERAPY CONTEXT - THE CONSTRUCT-VALIDITY OF THE INVENTORY OF INTERPERSONAL PROBLEMS, Psychological assessment, 8(3), 1996, pp. 241-255
This research investigated the construct validity of the Inventory of
Interpersonal Problems (IIP; L. M. Horowitz, S. E. Rosenberg, B. A. Ba
er, G. Ureno, & V. S. Villasenor, 1988) in the context of psychodynami
c psychotherapy The interpersonal circumplex was used to categorize pa
tients reporting interpersonal distress into 1 of 4 problem quadrants:
Friendly Dominant, Hostile Dominant, Hostile Submissive, and Friendly
Submissive. At several points in treatment, therapists assessed their
patients' personality disturbances, global functioning, and assets an
d liabilities for therapy. Patients described their in-session experie
nces using the Therapy Session Report (D. E. Orlinsky & K. I. Howard,
1975). The 4 problem types each had a coherent and distinctive set of
correlates. Patients' interpersonal problems were articulated in thera
pists' perceptions and evaluations, and in the kinds of interpersonal
and intrapsychic themes (wants, hopes, feelings, behaviors, etc.) that
characterized patients' retrospective accounts of the therapy session
s. The results add to knowledge about the IIP, interpersonal problems,
and the psychotherapy context.