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Transference-Focused Psychotherapy

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Borderline personality disorder; Object-relations theory; Personality disorders; Psychoanalytic psychotherapy; Psychodynamic psychotherapy

Introduction

Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) is a manualized, empirically supported, outpatient psychotherapy designed specifically to treat patients with severe personality disorders, such as borderline personality and narcissistic personality disorders. TFP was developed by Otto Kernberg and his colleagues, most notably Frank Yeomans and John Clarkin, at the Personality Disorders Institute at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College, who modified standard exploratory psychodynamic psychotherapy to conform to the developmental psychopathology and clinical needs of those with severe personality disorders (Yeomans et al. 2015). The efficacy of TFP has been demonstrated in several studies, both with regard to symptom change and change in personality. Based on these studies, a number of treatment guidelines and reviews, including...

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References

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  • Levy, K. N., Meehan, K. B., Kelly, K. M., Reynoso, J. S., Weber, M., Clarkin, J. F., & Kernberg, O. F. (2006). Change in attachment patterns and reflective function in a randomized control trial of transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(6), 1027–1040. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.74.6.1027.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Kenneth N. Levy & Yogev Kivity

Authors
  1. Kenneth N. Levy
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  2. Yogev Kivity
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth N. Levy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Bradley A. Green

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Levy, K.N., Kivity, Y. (2017). Transference-Focused Psychotherapy. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2297-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2297-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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