How treating psychoanalysts respond to psychotherapy research constraints

The psychoanalytic community increasingly recognizes the importance of rese arch on psychoanalytic treatments, yet a significant number of psychoanalys ts continue to believe that research is either irrelevant to psychoanalysis or impossible to accomplish. Psychoanalysts who accept the value of resear ch express concern that intrusions required by research protocols create si gnificant distortions in the psychoanalytic process. The authors, all psych oanalysts, are studying the outcome of a brief (twenty-four-session) psycho dynamic treatment of panic disorder. They report their experiences and stru ggles with the intrusions of videotaping, working with a treatment manual, and time-limited treatment. This research process required them to question old beliefs and to confront feelings of disloyalty toward their analytic t raining and identity, particularly with regard to keeping a "clean field" a nd routinely performing long-term analysis of character. The therapists' ps ychoanalytic knowledge, however, emerged as crucial for them in managing sp ecific research constraints. Despite concerns about providing inadequate tr eatment, therapists were found to engage patients with psychoanalytic tools and focus in vibrant and productive therapies that led to significant impr ovements in panic symptoms and associated quality of life. The authors sugg est that psychoanalysts have been overestimating the potential damage of re search constraints on psychoanalytic process and outcome.