WHAT IS TRANSFERENCE FOCUSED PSYCHOTHERAPY

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Understanding Transference focused psychotherapy. It is a psychodynamic treatment developed
primarily for individuals with borderline personality disorder, though its application
have extended to other personality disorders. It's rooted heavily in
object relations theory and heavily influenced by the work of
Auto Kernberg. It centers around the concept of transference, the
unconscious redirection of feelings from early significant relationships onto the therapist.

(00:23):
Unlike other therapies that may interpret transference in passing or
avoiding it entirely, TFP treats the transference relationship as the
primary therapeutic tool. At its core, transference refers to the
process where patients project unresolved feelings, desires, fears, and internal
conflicts from past relationships, typically parental, onto the therapist. For instance,

(00:46):
the patient of experience the rejecting or abuse of caregiver
might begin to view the therapists with suspicion, fear, or hostility,
even when such reactions are not warranted by the therapist's
actual behavior. TFP assumes that individuals with severe personality disorders
off and experience themselves and others in fragmented and contradictory ways,
splitting people into all good or all bad categories. These

(01:08):
internal representations are enacted in relationships, including the therapeutic one.
By observing and interpreting the patient shifts and how they
perceive and relate to the therapist, The TFP helps patients develop
a more integrated and stable sense of self and others.
So integrating the splitting the good, the all good, and
the all bad into a complete whole also reminds me
of Youngian's concept of integrating the shadow. The structure of

(01:32):
TFP is rigorous and clearly defined. Therapy typically occurs twice
a week and follows a set treatment contract that outlines expectations, boundaries,
and the goals of therapy. The therapist maintains a neutral,
yet engaged stance and focuses on the here and now,
going back to the gestalt principles that we've learned from
Fritz Pearls. When a patient expresses intense emotions anger, fear, idealization,

(01:54):
or devaluation, the therapist helps the patient explore where these
feelings might come from and what past relationship they may echo.
The interpretations in TFP are not casual. They are precise,
grounded in the moment and aim to link the patient's
current experiences in therapy with past relational patterns. It goes
to help the patient recognize these patterns as internalized object relations,

(02:16):
which is mental representations of self and others formed early
in life, and to integrate them into a more coreherent
I'm sorry, and to a more coherent and realistic view
of themselves and the world. So again, it's a powerful
modality that places a therapeutic relationship at the heart of
change by working directly with the client's transference. It's a

(02:38):
very powerful theory, but a very difficult one in practice,
but you can do it, just requires a lot of practice.