Transference and Countertransference: New Horizons

In this exploratory study one set of patients (n – 50) was randomly assigned to either short-term group therapy or short-term individual therapy. Another set of patients was randomly assigned to either long-term group therapy or long-term individual therapy. All patients were rated prior to therapy on fifteen variables which were believed to be important for psychoanalytically oriented therapy. A comprehensive battery of outcome measures was administered both before and after therapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted in an effort to discover differential predictors of improvement for group therapy and individual therapy. None of the variables was found to be a significant predictor of improvement in one type of therapy and of nonimprovement in the other type. However, a number of variables were found to be significant predictors of improvement for one type of therapy but not for the other. It is suggested that for a given patient, a pattern of scoring on a number of such variables might tend to favor one type of therapy over another. The authors hope that the present study will serve to encourage further research work on the issue of assisting clinicians in their decisions concerning general and differential prediction of therapy outcome.