Relationships Between Categories: The Context of the Symptom in Practice

The current paper introduces a clinical method for experience-near interpretation of transference patterns taking place in the symptom context. This research is a qualitative metasynthetic study. The method of Luborsky’s Core Conflictual Relationship Themes was conducted here on 33 transference case studies published in peer-reviewed journals and sourced from an appropriate database. Case components were categorized and relationships between them were analyzed using the method of Relationship Between Categories. We found that transferential components observed in the context of the symptom were a powerful source of distress. These components were found to be interlinked in patterns of two, three or four core categories. Based on these findings we suggest a therapeutic method that enhances self-understanding and maps out milestones for change. The suggested method is sensitive to a set of the patients’ covert associations, which thus becomes a key to undermining the unconscious balance between healthy and pathologic urges.