Similarities Between Traditional Psychoanalytic Sessions and Modern Approaches
The Life Passage video contains a traditional brief psychoanalytical session involving a regular client. In contrast, Transference-Focused and Mentalization-Based Therapy psychoanalytic video approaches contain sessions involving borderline personality disorder (BPD) clients. Although there is a difference in the population of the client, some similarities are noticed in the different approaches used in all sessions.
The first similarity was the concentration on the emotional experiences of the client and the way they relate to their relationships with other people. It is clear from the Mentalization-based therapy and the transference-focused psychoanalytic approaches that the core BPD feature is the change in emotions, where the victims experience rapid and extreme emotions over specific experiences.
In all three psychoanalytic approaches, the therapists engage the clients and encourage them to explore their experiences and feelings and how they affect their relationships with others. For example, in Mentalization therapy, Dr Bateman encourages the client to pause and asks about something upsetting her (“Mentalization Based Therapy – Dr Bateman,” 2012). He asks the client how others see her, and she responds that she is needy. Concentrating on the interpersonal context and emotional exploration of the client’s experiences is a hallmark of the psychodynamic approaches. Therapeutic relationship concentration as a way of promoting change was another similarity portrayed in the three psychoanalytic approaches (Kaplan et al., 2020).
The therapists collaborate closely with the client in all the videos. Dr Bateman assures his client that he will not fire her and that he is there to help her overcome her condition. He encouraged her to relax and made her much more comfortable by asking her if she was ready to talk about the conditions she was going through. From the relationship, the client seems comfortable communicating with him, leading to an experience-based conversation between Dr Bateman and the client. The close relationship with the client was vital to the client’s healing and growth. The therapist in all three videos is seen as an empathetic and supportive ally, working closely with the clients to know their experiences and feelings and developing new perspectives and insights.
Differences in Therapeutic Techniques and Focus
Apart from the similarities among the three psychoanalytic approaches, there existed differences between the Transference-Focused, Mentalization, and Life passages approaches. One crucial difference was the value of focus and structure on particular techniques in the Transference-Focused and Mentalization approaches. In both approaches, the therapists applied particular techniques to enable their clients to learn about their emotional experiences and develop adaptive ways of relating to others.
For example, Dr Bateman asks his client to explain if there was a particular time that she sensed that he would fire her during their sessions. From this prompt by Dr Bateman, the client opens up and explains to him what happened when she saw him in the last session, and what happened when she saw him at Bateman’s moment made her feel he would fire her. Dr Frank Yeomans explains the core features related to BPD in that they experience rapid and extreme emotions and are always much reactive to what happens (Wang, 2013).
He also emphasizes that such people have frustrating relationships, which is vividly seen in the explanation made by Dr Bateman’s client. The client explained her relationship experience with bitter emotion and was even overwhelmed with tears at certain levels of engagement. However, the Life Passage approach was more explanatory and less structured, and in most instances, the clients were allowed to guide the engagement.
Moreover, another difference came from the degree of countertransference and transference emphasis. In the Transference-Focused and Mentalization-Based approaches, the therapists were very concerned about the ways the experiences and feelings of the client in the therapy session reflected their behavior patterns of connecting to others outside the therapy. Dr Bateman asks his client about the balanced relationship she wanted from his boyfriend and the imbalance that occurred.
The client talks about having time with his boyfriend and spending a lot of time together. In this way, he tries to connect the client’s experience to the third party, her boyfriend, outside the therapy session. In contrast, the Life Passage psychoanalytic approach focused little on countertransference and transference since they mainly focused on the client in the therapy room and the experiences they have about themselves.
Therapist Roles in Traditional vs. Mentalization and Transference-Focused Therapy
A focus on therapists’ responsibilities reveals differences between how they deal with BPD clients and regular clients. In the Transference-Focused and Mentalization videos, therapists adopted a much more active role in guiding their clients and offering particular insights and feedback. Dr Frank Yeomans concentrates on explaining the features related to BPD and thus expounding on the characteristics that a victim may exhibit. He explains the person’s sense of identity, impulsive behavior, frustrating relationships, and extreme emotions (Jenkins et al., 2022). Dr Bateman listens to his client’s experiences, asks for elaboration on the experiences about the client’s feelings, what made her have such feelings, and explains to her the most relevant perspective according to the experiences.
In contrast, in the Life Passage video, the therapist is seen as a neutral guide since the clients can explore personal feelings and experiences without much insight and direction from the therapist. A lingering question is prompted by the similarities and differences in balancing the need for technique and structure with the need for exploration and flexibility in therapy sessions. Technique and structure are essential in enabling the clients to develop new behaviors and insights; however, the increased structure can constrain and hinder the client from meaningfully sharing their feelings and experiences.
References
NEA BPD. (2012). Mentalization-based therapy – Dr. Bateman. [YouTube Video]. Web.
Jenkins, C. A., Thompson, K. N., Nicholas, C. L., & Chanen, A. M. (2022). Sleep in Young people with features of borderline personality disorder: A scoping review. Journal of Personality Disorders, 36(1), 19-39. Web.
Kaplan, B., Yazici Gulec, M., Gica, S., & Gulec, H. (2020). The association between neurocognitive functioning and clinical features of borderline personality disorder. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 42, 503-509. Web.
Wang, A. (2013). Core features of borderline personality disorder through the lens of TFP. [YouTube Video]. YouTube. Web.