Women Respond More Favorably to Transference Intervention Than Men

Abstract

The present study focuses on whether there is a sustained difference in treatment response to transference interventions between women and men. Data from the First Experimental Study of Transference Interpretations were used. One hundred patients were randomized to receive dynamic psychotherapy in 1 year with either a moderate level of transference intervention or no transference intervention. Follow-ups were 1 year and 3 years after treatment termination. The two primary outcome measures were the Psychodynamic Functioning Scales (PFS) and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex Version. Change was assessed using linear mixed models. In the moderator analyses, using the primary outcome measure (PFS) and controlling for the effect of the level of relational functioning (Quality of Object Relations Scale), women and men differed significantly in their response to transference intervention. The average relational functioning female patients showed a significant positive long-term effect of transference intervention.

Empirically supported methods of short-term psychodynamic therapy in depression – Towards an evidence-based unified protocol

“…In patients with more mature object relations and a good alliance, a negative effect of transference interpretations was found. In this analysis furthermore women benefited significantly more from transference interpretations than men (Ulberg et al, 2012). It is of importance that these data come from studies in diagnostically heterogeneous patient samples and therefore are not specific to patients with depression.…”

When Is Transference Work Useful in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy? Main Results of the First Experimental Study of Transference Work (FEST)

“…There was an interaction between patient gender and QOR: a strong positive effect of transference work among female patients with low QOR scale scores appeared, versus a negative effect of transference work for male patients with high Downloaded by [The University of Manchester Library] at 04:59 25 November 2014 QOR scale scores. The subgroup of women with poor interpersonal functioning had a particularly strong effect of dynamic psychotherapy with transference work (Ulberg, Johansson, Marble, & Høglend, 2009;Ulberg, Høglend, Marble, & Johansson, 2012).…”

The Effects of the Therapist's Disengaged Feelings on the In-Session Process in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

“…Our FEST investigations have shown that patients with a life‐long pattern of poor relational functioning profit from therapy with TI, and that woman responded better to TI than men (Høglend et al., ). In particular, women with difficult relational functioning improved most from therapy with TI (Ulberg, Høglend, Marble, & Johansson, ).…”