EFFECTS OF TRAINING IN TIME-LIMITED DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY - MEDIATORSOF THERAPISTS RESPONSES TO TRAINING

Sixteen therapists were enrolled in a year-long manualized training pr ogram as part of the Vanderbilt II study of time-limited dynamic psych otherapy (TLDP). The training program successfully changed therapists' interventions in line with prescriptions of the TLDP manual, but some unanticipated changes ran counter to the intent of the training, incl uding increased negative interpersonal transactions as indicated by pr ocess measures such as the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SAS B). We examined therapist variables, patient variables, and training v ariables that appeared to mediate therapist responses to the training program. Results indicate that patient difficulty may mediate certain aspects of therapists' responses to training. Therapists with self-rep orted hostile and controlling introjects showed the greatest technical adherence, which was intriguing because prior research has linked hos tile therapist introject to greater frequency of countertherapeutic in terpersonal process. Of special interest were differences in effects o f training associated with individual training faculty. This finding, if generalizable. has important implications for manualized therapy re search, especially multisite trials.