Perceptions of the significant other of the effects of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Implications for thinking about psychodynamic and systemic approaches.

BACKGROUND: Clinical suggests that partners of psychotherapy patients often have powerful feelings about the therapy and therapist. The repercussions of psychotherapy on those close to the patient are rarely considered. A small exploratory study was therefore conducted.
METHOD: All patients who had completed at least two months of weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy in 1990 at an out-patient unit of a psychiatric hospital (n = 35) and had a partner with whom they were living at the time of starting therapy (n = 23) were contacted. Eight gave permission for their partner to be contacted directly. All eight partners agreed to participate in a semi-structured interview exploring their perceptions of the effects of the therapy on a number of family relationships. The impact of the process of the study was also investigated by means of a questionnaire sent to all partners some weeks after the interview.
RESULTS: Considerable changes were perceived to have taken place in association with therapy affecting not only the relationship between the couple but also their parenting relationship, the children, and at time members of the extended family. Partner's views about the direction of such changes seemed to influence other perceptions about the therapy.
CONCLUSION: The repercussions of individual psychotherapy may well spread extensively within a family. This further blurs the boundary between individual and family therapy, both theoretically and clinically. Research procedures are themselves a major intervention and may have a considerable emotional impact on participants.