Transition to Online Transference-Focused Psychotherapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led psychotherapists to use remote psychotherapy. Considering different psychotherapy orientations, scientific literature has provided interesting results about this transition and its implications. Less is known about whether and how the online format affects manualized psychotherapeutic approaches. The present study explored potential changes in how therapists deliver transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) due to the online transition to remote psychotherapy during the COVID-19 outbreak. Four hundred seventy-nine licensed psychotherapists, of which 296 were TFP therapists, completed an online survey during the peak of the pandemic in the world. In general, no significant differences emerged between TFP and non-TFP psychotherapists in (1) psychotherapists' previous experience with remote psychotherapy, (2) rate of interrupted treatments, (3) subjective experience, and (4) difficulties with more severe patients. TFP psychotherapists found it harder to adhere to the TFP techniques when working with more severe patients. Within the limitations of this survey study, implications for clinical practice are described. COVID-19 大流行导致心理治疗师使用远程心理治疗。考虑到不同的心理治疗取向, 科学文献提供了关于这种转变及其影响的有趣结果。关于线上形式是否以及如何影响了规范化心理治疗方法知之甚少。本研究探讨了COVID-19 爆发期间由于过渡到远程线上心理治疗，治疗师提供移情焦点心理治疗 （TFP） 的方式的潜在变化。479名持证心理治疗师，其中296名是TFP治疗师，在全球大流行高峰期完成了一项在线调查。一般而言，TFP心理治疗师和非TFP心理治疗师在以下方面没有显著差异：（1）心理治疗师既往远程心理治疗经验；（2）治疗中断率；（3）主观体验和（4）更严重患者的困难。TFP心理治疗师发现，在与更严重的患者一起工作时，更难坚持TFP技术。在本调查研究的局限性内，描述了其对临床实践的影响。