examined the associations between specific personality
disorders and therapists’ emotional responses (19, 20).
Betan et al. (19) asked 181 clinicians of various theoretical
orientations to evaluate their emotional responses to
a nonpsychotic patient with the Therapist Response
Questionnaire (21). The therapists also rated their
patient’s personality on the presence or absence of each
DSM-IV axis II criterion. Factor analysis yielded eight
countertransference dimensions (for a detailed description,
see the data supplement that accompanies the online edition
of this article): 1) overwhelmed/disorganized indicates
a desire to avoid or flee the patient and strong negative
feelings, including dread, repulsion, and resentment; 2)
helpless/inadequate describes feelings of inadequacy,
incompetence, hopelessness, and anxiety; 3) positive indicates
the experience of a positive working alliance and
close connection with the patient; 4) special/overinvolved
describes a sense of the patient as special relative to other
patients and includes “soft signs” of problems in maintaining
boundaries, including self-disclosure, ending sessions on
time, and feeling guilty, responsible, or overly concerned
about the patient; 5) sexualized describes sexual feelings
toward the patient or experiences of sexual tension; 6)