Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report
Patients with narcissistic personality disorder are among the most difficult to treat in therapy, especially for their strong resistance to treatment and several difficulties in establishing a therapeutic relationship characterized by intimacy, safety, and trust. In particular, therapists’ emotional...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PAGEPress Publications
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Research in Psychotherapy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.researchinpsychotherapy.org/index.php/rpsy/article/view/174 |
| _version_ | 1828220004032577536 |
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| author | Annalisa Tanzilli Antonello Colli Laura Muzi Vittorio Lingiardi |
| author_facet | Annalisa Tanzilli Antonello Colli Laura Muzi Vittorio Lingiardi |
| author_sort | Annalisa Tanzilli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Patients with narcissistic personality disorder are among the most difficult to treat in therapy, especially for their strong resistance to treatment and several difficulties in establishing a therapeutic relationship characterized by intimacy, safety, and trust. In particular, therapists’ emotional responses to these patients can be particularly intense and frustrating, as reported in the clinical literature but rarely investigated empirically.
The aims of this preliminary study were: 1) to examine the associations between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and distinct therapists’ countertransference patterns; and 2) to verify whether these clinicians’ emotional reactions were influenced by their theoretical orientation (as well as gender and age).
A national sample of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (N = 250) completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ) to identify patterns of therapist emotional response, and the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) to assess personality disorder and level of psychological functioning in a patient currently in their care and with whom they had worked for a minimum of eight sessions and a maximum of 6 months (one session per week).
From the complete therapist sample, we identified a subgroup (N = 35) of patients with narcissistic personality disorder, and we found that this personality pathology was positively associated with criticized/mistreated and disengaged countertransference, but negatively associated with positive therapist response. Moreover, our results confirmed that the relationship between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and therapists’ emotional responses was not dependent on clinicians’ theoretical approach (as well as their age and gender).
These findings are consistent with clinical observations, as well as some empirical contributions, and have meaningful implications for clinical practice of patients suffering from this challenging pathology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:22:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca21f9213d5f48249502ef6ce06ac4b8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2499-7552 2239-8031 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:22:16Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | PAGEPress Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research in Psychotherapy |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca21f9213d5f48249502ef6ce06ac4b82022-12-22T03:25:32ZengPAGEPress PublicationsResearch in Psychotherapy2499-75522239-80312015-03-0118110.4081/ripppo.2015.174Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary ReportAnnalisa Tanzilli0Antonello ColliLaura MuziVittorio LingiardiDepartment of Dynamic and Clinical PsychologyPatients with narcissistic personality disorder are among the most difficult to treat in therapy, especially for their strong resistance to treatment and several difficulties in establishing a therapeutic relationship characterized by intimacy, safety, and trust. In particular, therapists’ emotional responses to these patients can be particularly intense and frustrating, as reported in the clinical literature but rarely investigated empirically. The aims of this preliminary study were: 1) to examine the associations between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and distinct therapists’ countertransference patterns; and 2) to verify whether these clinicians’ emotional reactions were influenced by their theoretical orientation (as well as gender and age). A national sample of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (N = 250) completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ) to identify patterns of therapist emotional response, and the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) to assess personality disorder and level of psychological functioning in a patient currently in their care and with whom they had worked for a minimum of eight sessions and a maximum of 6 months (one session per week). From the complete therapist sample, we identified a subgroup (N = 35) of patients with narcissistic personality disorder, and we found that this personality pathology was positively associated with criticized/mistreated and disengaged countertransference, but negatively associated with positive therapist response. Moreover, our results confirmed that the relationship between patients’ narcissistic personality disorder and therapists’ emotional responses was not dependent on clinicians’ theoretical approach (as well as their age and gender). These findings are consistent with clinical observations, as well as some empirical contributions, and have meaningful implications for clinical practice of patients suffering from this challenging pathology.https://www.researchinpsychotherapy.org/index.php/rpsy/article/view/174therapist emotional responsenarcissistic personality disorderTRQSWAP-200psychotherapy |
| spellingShingle | Annalisa Tanzilli Antonello Colli Laura Muzi Vittorio Lingiardi Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report Research in Psychotherapy therapist emotional response narcissistic personality disorder TRQ SWAP-200 psychotherapy |
| title | Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report |
| title_full | Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report |
| title_fullStr | Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report |
| title_short | Clinician Emotional Response Toward Narcissistic Patients: A Preliminary Report |
| title_sort | clinician emotional response toward narcissistic patients a preliminary report |
| topic | therapist emotional response narcissistic personality disorder TRQ SWAP-200 psychotherapy |
| url | https://www.researchinpsychotherapy.org/index.php/rpsy/article/view/174 |
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