Brief Psychodynamic Theory (BPT) (4)

Question 1

Name a few founding theorists of BPT.

Answer 1

Ferenczi, Alexander, Strupp.

Question 2

Who does BPT work best for?

Answer 2

People who have chronic and dysfunctional ways of relating to others, such as those who have personality disorders, reflecting patterns of dependency, negativism, or externalization of blame, along with long-standing interpersonal difficulties

Question 3

Describe BPT.

Answer 3

Integrative, attachment-based, and experiential, time-sensitive, focused on resilience.

Question 4

Name some ways BPT differs from traditional psychoanalysis.

Answer 4

• BPT is relatively brief, having a time limit or a specific termination date, or having the number of sessions fixed at the start of therapy. Therapy is rarely longer than 1 year and is typically 12 to 20 sessions in duration .
• The focus is on specific intrapsychic conflicts identified early in counseling.
• Goals are established to clarify priorities.
• The therapist is active and sometimes challenging, using interpretation but discouraging regression; de-emphasizes transference but promotes a corrective emotional experience.
• Termination, with its issues of loss, separation, and ending, receives considerable attention.

Question 5

How does BPT work?

Answer 5

Strengthening the ego so that it can control self destructive impulses, helping people gain insight and resolve conflicts, and using the therapeutic relationship to teach effective ways of relating to others, therapists can help clients break out of their repetitive dysfunctional patterns and grow in healthy ways.

Question 6

What is the triangle of insights?

Answer 6

Includes interpretations from the therapist that connect emotional past relationships, emotional current relationships, and the relationship with the therapist.

Question 7

What is the triangle of conflict?

Answer 7

The defense mechanisms people use to protect themselves from feeling anxious or uncomfortable in regard to relationships (past, current, and relationship with therapist)

Question 8

What are the five phases of BPT?

Answer 8

1. Client–therapist encounter.
2. Early treatment.
3. Height of treatment.
4. Evidence of change.
5. Termination.

Question 9

What is the goal of BPT?

Answer 9

Seeks to resolve presenting problems and promote overall growth; character change.

Question 10

List some supportive techniques.

Answer 10

Utilizing selfobject transferences and setting limits, which includes encouraging clients to reduce unhealthy behavior, acknowledging the progress clients make, showing genuine interest and concern for their clients, and staying in the present moment perspective.

Question 11

List expressive techniques.

Answer 11

Encourages clients to experience and express their previously repressed thoughts, feelings, and urges
Clarification, can elucidate vague or blurred material, which clients often use as a defense mechanism.
Confrontation, which is not argumentative, but rather helps them see matters from a different perspective and confront a reality of which they are unaware.
Interpretation is yet another expressive technique; this involves the therapist pointing out consistencies with past relationships and how they are affecting current relationships.

Question 12

List some guidelines for countertransference.

Answer 12

• Disclosure always relates to the material at hand.
• It is an immediate and emotional reaction to the client.
• It is only done in the best interest of the client. * Therapists do not share material from their own lives.
• The disclosure is not made to further a therapist’s personal agenda.
• It is never seductive.

Question 13

What type of client is BPT not suitable for?

Answer 13

People who have cognitive processing problems; those with psychosis, neurological issues, or substance abuse; or those whose behavior requires constant case management or support

Question 14

List some limitations of BPT.

Answer 14

Confrontational and authoritarian nature can elicit anger, dependency, and even regression.
Short-term nature can result in a superficial sort of therapy that ameliorates symptoms but does not sufficiently address underlying personality patterns
Difficult to make accurate interpretations, and interpretations that are off can damage the therapeutic relationship

Question 15

What are the three areas through which the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (focal concern) can be found?

Answer 15

The patient’s wishes from the other person
The other person’s actual or expected responses,
How the patient responds