Character Style and Anxiety Tolerance: A Study in Intrapsychic Change.

Abstract

The gradually unfolding nature of the psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic process looked at from one highly restricted point of view can be understood as the inexorable disclosure by the patient of secrets; secrets he keeps from himself as well as from others by means of the complex, intricate, and hidden methods whose understanding forms the stock in trade of the psychotherapist. Research into the processes and outcomes of psychotherapy or into any other natural or artificial phenomena, can also be looked at as a struggle on the part of the researcher to find ways which make it possible for the objects of his research to disclose their secrets. Just as the psychotherapist harbors within himself secret thoughts and feelings with regard to his patient, his relationship to the patient, and the process they are engaging in, all of which are traditionally viewed under the heading of countertransference, so the researcher keeps hidden, both from himself and his scientificThe work of the Psychotherapy Project of The Menninger Foundation has been generously supported, initially by the Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry, and subsequently by the Ford Foundation.This report represents, we feel, a closer than usual collaboration. Our ideas are the product of truly mutual participation in a shared effort.M e wish to acknowledge the assistance of

Rethinking therapeutic action

“…In this respect, an important goal in many treatments is helping patients learn to tolerate affects such as anxiety enough so that they can use them as signals (Siegel and Rosen, 1962). From an evolutionary perspective, the function of affect is to guide thought and behavior in ways that foster adaptation, and a chronic tendency to avoid speci c affects or affect in general (as in many obsessive patients) leaves the individual without an essential compass for navigating life, and particularly social life (Westen, 1985(Westen, , 1997.…”

Predicting early attrition from psychotherapy: An analysis of a large private-practice cohort.

“…Taulbee (1958) also found that those individuals who remained in treatment beyond thirteen sessions were judged as more persistent, dependent, introspective, and anxious than those who terminated. Several additional investigators reported that perceived disturbance, anxiety, and inner pressure correlated with stay ability (Hiler, 1959;Siegal & Rosen, 1962;Stone et al, 1961;Strupp et al, 1964;Truax & Carkhuff, 1967). However, in studying anxiety Baekeland et al (1973) were unable to differentiate between immediate, rapid, and slow dropouts and attenders in a study of 148 patients in an alcohol clinical population.…”

Repensando a ação terapêutica

“…A este respeito, uma meta importante em muitos tratamentos é ajudar os pacientes a aprender a tolerar afetos, como ansiedade, o suficiente para que, deste modo, possam usá-los como sinais 46 . Desde uma perspectiva evolutiva, a função do afeto é guiar pensamentos e condutas por caminhos que encorajem a adaptação e uma tendência crônica a evitar afetos específicos, ou afetos em geral (como em muitos pacientes obsessivos), deixando o indiví-duo sem a bússola essencial para navegar na vida, e especificamente na vida social 47,48 .…”