Interpersonal Problems and the Psychotherapy Context: The Construct Validity of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

This research investigated the construct validity of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; L. M. Horowitz, S. E. Rosenberg, B. A. Baer, G. Ureño, & V. S. Villaseñor, 1988 ) in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The interpersonal circumplex was used to categorize patients reporting interpersonal distress into 1 of 4 problem quadrants: Friendly Dominant, Hostile Dominant, Hostile Submissive, and Friendly Submissive. At several points in treatment, therapists assessed their patients' personality disturbances, global functioning, and assets and liabilities for therapy. Patients described their in-session experiences using the Therapy Session Report ( D. E. Orlinsky & K. I. Howard, 1975 ). The 4 problem types each had a coherent and distinctive set of correlates. Patients' interpersonal problems were articulated in therapists' perceptions and evaluations, and in the kinds of interpersonal and intrapsychic themes (wants, hopes, feelings, behaviors, etc.) that characterized patients' retrospective accounts of the therapy sessions. The results add to knowledge about the IIP, interpersonal problems, and the psychotherapy context.