Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol 41(3), Jul 2024, 137-146; doi:10.1037/pap0000501
The COVID-19 pandemic led psychotherapists to use remote psychotherapy. Considering different psychotherapy orientations, scientific literature has provided interesting results about this transition and its implications. Less is known about whether and how the online format affects manualized psychotherapeutic approaches. The present study explored potential changes in how therapists deliver transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) due to the online transition to remote psychotherapy during the COVID-19 outbreak. Four hundred seventy-nine licensed psychotherapists, of which 296 were TFP therapists, completed an online survey during the peak of the pandemic in the world. In general, no significant differences emerged between TFP and non-TFP psychotherapists in (1) psychotherapists’ previous experience with remote psychotherapy, (2) rate of interrupted treatments, (3) subjective experience, and (4) difficulties with more severe patients. TFP psychotherapists found it harder to adhere to the TFP techniques when working with more severe patients. Within the limitations of this survey study, implications for clinical practice are described. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)