Modes of Interaction in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with Borderline and Non-Borderline Clients

Abstract

Individual variation in the use of symbolic aspects of the treatment situation has been theorized across client groups of varying developmental profiles. In particular, the use of metaphor is thought to be different in the therapies with Borderline clients. The present study involved an intensive qualitative analysis of metaphor-ic expressions from Borderline and non-Borderline psychotherapy sessions. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 2 therapists and 4 clients (2 Borderline; 2 non-Borderline) following single sessions from psychoanalyticaily oriented long term psychotherapies. The analysis of data found significant differences in the therapeutic interaction which led to the major core categories of (a) Literal Mode of Interaction and (b) Representational Mode of Interaction, representing the Borderline and non-Borderline sessions respectively. The characteristics of these two modes underscored the differences found in the use of metaphor between the two client groups. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.