Therapists' Techniques in Psychoanalysis and Short-Term and Long-Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: Are They Different?

In the last few years, the question of whether the techniques used in psychodynamic psychotherapies and psychoanalysis should be differentiated categorically or dimensionally has generated substantial discussion (Kächele 2010). In the field of psychoanalysis, a categorical differentiation between the technique of psychoanalysis and that of psychodynamic psychotherapy is still preferred, a differentiation that has not been scientifically demonstrated on the basis of empirical analysis of the techniques used in actual practice. The Psychotherapy Process Q-set method (PQS; Jones 2000) allows such a differentiation to be made.

The divergence between the ideal of a treatment orientation and its actual practice can be studied by the application of prototypes representing the ideal conception of a psychoanalytic hour. Ablon and Jones (1998) have developed a psychoanalytic prototype by clustering PQS ratings done by experienced psychoanalysts. In a later study (Ablon and Jones 2005), the correlation