The aim of the research is to develop the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method (CCRT) as a much-needed measure of relationship patterns for psychotherapy research and for the practice of psychotherapy.
The aims are to determine its reliability and validity by (a) comparison with other measures of relationship patterns (b) comparison of CCRT for relationships with other people vs, with the therapist (as required by the definition of transference) (d) comparison of changes in CCRT from the beginning to end of treatment with those in standard outcome measures and (d) comparison of relationship patterns assessed pretreatment with those found during the treatment. The lack of such a measure has been the major impediment to research on psychodynamically oriented psychotherapies since the CCRT appears to measure the transference. The central agent of change in these therapies is supposed to be the recognition and working through of the relationship problems that appear in the transference relationship with the therapist. The therapists from this largest of all schools of psychotherapy have been making formulations of the transference ever since the concept was first introduced over 70 years ago. After such a long history of constant clinical use it is time for a major effort to objectify the concept, if that can be done.
