TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Changes in self-representations following psychoanalytic psychotherapy for young adults: a comparative typology
JO  - Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
A1  - Werbart, Andrzej
A1  - Brusell, Lars
A1  - Iggedal, Rebecka
A1  - Lavfors, Kristin
A1  - Widholm, Alexander
SP  - 917
EP  - 958
VL  - 64
IS  - 5
N2  - Changes in dynamic psychological structures are often a treatment goal in psychotherapy. The present study aimed at creating a typology of self-representations among young women and men in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, to study longitudinal changes in self-representations, and to compare self-representations in the clinical sample with those of a nonclinical group. Twenty-five women and sixteen men were interviewed according to Blatt's Object Relations Inventory pretreatment, at termination, and at a 1.5-year follow-up. In the comparison group, eleven women and nine men were interviewed at baseline, 1.5 years, and three years later. Typologies of the 123 self-descriptions in the clinical group and 60 in the nonclinical group were constructed by means of ideal-type analysis for men and women separately. Clusters of self-representations could be depicted on a two-dimensional matrix with the axes Relatedness-Self-definition and Integration-Nonintegration. In most cases, the self-descriptions changed over time in terms of belonging to different ideal-type clusters. In the clinical group, there was a movement toward increased integration in self-representations, but above all toward a better balance between relatedness and self-definition. The changes continued after termination, paralleled by reduced symptoms, improved functioning, and higher developmental levels of representations. No corresponding tendency could be observed in the nonclinical group.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0003-0651
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0003065116676765
ID  - ref1
ER  -