Patients' Representations of Psychotherapy: A New Focus for Psychodynamic Research

This article presents a psychodynamic framework and research methods for investigating the significance of patients' internal representations of therapy-with-their-therapists. In this article, 2 instruments developed for this purpose-the Therapist Representation Inventory and the Intersession Experience Questionnaire-are introduced, and their psychometric characteristics are described. Also, findings from a series of studies conducted with these instruments are summarized. Finally, the types of questions these instruments appear to be well suited to are proposed for addressing in future research.