inadequate, overwhelmed/disorganized, and
special/overinvolved countertransference.
Disengaged countertransference was associated
with schizotypal and narcissistic
personality disorders and negatively associated
with dependent and histrionic
personality disorders. Schizoid personality
disorder was associated with helpless/
inadequate responses. Positive countertransference
was associated with avoidant
personality disorder, which was also related
to both parental/protective and
special/overinvolved therapist responses.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
was negatively associated with special/
overinvolved therapist responses. In general,
therapists’ responses were characterized
by stronger negative feelings when
working with lower-functioning patients.
Conclusions: Patients’ specific personality
pathologies are associated with consistent
emotional responses, which suggests that
clinicians can make diagnostic and therapeutic
use of their responses to patients.