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More than ever, it is important to demonstrate that psychoanalysts are competent to do empirical and theoretical research on an academic level, and that psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic long-term psychotherapy can be studied with empirical methods. The present academic dissertation by Andrzej Werbart is therefore of great interest. It fits nicely into the series of academic dissertations coming from members of the Swedish Association in the nineties (Szecsödy, Weinryb, Titelman, Matthis).
Werbart's focus is the long-term in-patient psychoanalytic psychotherapy with severely disturbed young patients, conducted in a therapeutic community. He has followed 20 patient-therapist dyads during a period of average of four years of in-patient treatment, and then further on with a two years and five years follow-up interview. In addition, he has very thoroughly demonstrated that the treatment milieu, measured on a Ward Atmosphere Scale, fulfilled the criteria for a good therapeutic milieu for psychotic patients.
Werbart has used a wide spectrum of instruments. His methods are both quantitative and qualitative, and he combined these in a very creative way. His method for studying the psychotherapeutic process through several qualitative interviews with both the patients and the therapists in different phases of the treatment, could be an interesting model for others to use for further research in this field. In all, this work is a good example of how one can use qualitative methods to study the treatment process and outcome in long-term treatment, and how to secure the reliability and