MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Brendon Michael Smith Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _____________________________________ Director Dr. Larry Leitner _____________________________________ Reader Dr. Vaishali Raval _____________________________________ Reader Dr. William B. Stiles _____________________________________ Graduate School Representative Dr. Paul Anderson ABSTRACT EXPERIENTIAL PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: AN EMPIRICAL QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION by Brendon M. Smith In this study, I delineated and systematically explored the usefulness of an experiential constructivist model of countertransference. The four participants were graduate-level student therapists, two men and two women, who ranged in age from their early 30’s to their mid 50’s. I interviewed participants about their most difficult experiences as psychotherapists and, with a research group, developed experiential constructivist conceptualizations of these experiences. After providing participants with the experiential constructivist conceptualizations, I interviewed them about their reactions to the conceptualizations. The research group analyzed the content and process of participants’ responses to the conceptualizations. The participants provided significant evidence for the usefulness of the constructivist model, noting that the conceptualizations generally captured their fundamental countertransferential conflicts and also helped them to develop deeper understandings of their experiences of countertransference. I discuss the importance of ROLE relating (Kelly, 1955; Leitner, 1985) with the participants in the development of the experiential constructivist conceptualizations. I also present implications for the development and presentation of the model, the clinical supervision of countertransference, and future research. EXPERIENTIAL PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: AN EMPIRICAL QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology by Brendon Michael Smith Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2012 Director: Dr. Larry M. Leitner Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Countertransference and Psychoanalysis........................................................................ 1 The classical conceptualization................................................................................... 2 The totalist conceptualization. .................................................................................... 3 The intersubjective conceptualization......................................................................... 4 Personal Construct Psychology and Countertransference .............................................. 7 Experiential Personal Construct Psychology................................................................ 12 Experiential Personal Construct Psychology and Countertransference........................ 15 Summary....................................................................................................................... 23 Method .............................................................................................................................. 24 Participants.................................................................................................................... 24 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 24 Initial interview......................................................................................................... 24 Countertransference conceptualization..................................................................... 27 Presentation To Participants interview. .................................................................... 28 Data analysis. ............................................................................................................ 29 Results............................................................................................................................... 32 Brendon......................................................................................................................... 33 Kathy............................................................................................................................. 43 Overall conceptualization. ........................................................................................ 50 Vulnerability to victimization................................................................................... 51 Failures in optimal therapeutic distance in response to countertransference............ 55 The emergence of new material................................................................................ 58 The elaboration of Kathy’s construct system and an increased sense of meaning. .. 63 Summary................................................................................................................... 64 William ......................................................................................................................... 65 Helplessness in the face of intense distress............................................................... 73 Failures in optimal therapeutic distance in response to countertransference............ 76 William’s anxiety around his client’s “strangeness.” ............................................... 80 An evolving perspective on supervision................................................................... 81 Increased sense of meaning. ..................................................................................... 86 Summary................................................................................................................... 87 Meena............................................................................................................................ 89 Evaluation anxiety. ................................................................................................... 96 Failures in optimal therapeutic distance in response to countertransference.......... 103 Supervision. ............................................................................................................ 108 Increased sense of meaning. ................................................................................... 110 Summary................................................................................................................. 112 Albert .......................................................................................................................... 114 Overall usefulness................................................................................................... 121 Inadequacy and incompetence. ............................................................................... 124 Supervision. ............................................................................................................ 127 Increased anxiety. ................................................................................................... 134 Failures in optimal therapeutic distance in response to countertransference.......... 137 ii Summary paragraph................................................................................................ 143 Summary................................................................................................................. 145 Summary of Findings.................................................................................................. 147 Discussion....................................................................................................................... 149 Core Countertransferential Issues, Coherent Narratives, And ROLE Relating.......... 149 “Therapeutic” Strangers and “Therapeutic” Unity ..................................................... 152 Using Countertransference To Learn About Clients .................................................. 154 Supervision ................................................................................................................. 156 Constructivist supervision....................................................................................... 161 Cognitive behavioral supervision. .......................................................................... 163 Supervision and threat............................................................................................. 165 Next steps in supervision research.......................................................................... 167 Core Role Constructs and Cultural Contexts.............................................................. 168 Implications of Current Methodology for Future Research........................................ 169 Laddering technique................................................................................................ 169 Retrospective approach and hypothetical responses............................................... 170 Limitations of data analysis. ................................................................................... 170 Disentangling responses to the write-up from responses to interviewer style........ 172 References......................................................................................................................