Assessment of Repeated Relational Patterns for Individual Cases Using the SASB-Based Intrex Questionnaire

Abstract

Repeated interpersonal patterns are central to case conceptualization and treatment planning in interpersonal and attachment-based approaches to therapy. In this study, raters (133 college students, 165 inpatients) provided data on the Intrex questionnaire (Benjamin, 2000) about self-treatment, relationship with a significant other, and remembered interactions with parents in childhood. Within-subject profiles were inspected for precise behavioral matches conforming to 3 “copy process” (CP) patterns: identification (behaving like an important other), recapitulation (behaving as if the other person is still present and in charge), and introjection (treating the self the way another did). We observed CP evidence in most individual ratings. Consistent with expectation, nonclinical raters tended to copy a securely attached pattern of affiliation, low hostility, and moderate degrees of enmeshment and differentiation. Only patients copied maladaptive behavior at greater than base rate expectation. We discuss implications and provide recommendations for use of Intrex in individual assessment of CP.

Acknowledgments

Both samples used in this study were supported by grants to L. S. Benjamin from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 33604) and from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Both samples have been used in different ways by L. S. Benjamin in several publications (e.g. SASB Intrex norms in Benjamin, 2000; Benjamin, 1992; Critchfield & Benjamin, 2008) as well as by other investigators (e.g., Gurtman, 2001; Lorr & Strack, 1999). Portions of this article were presented at the Society for Personality Assessment meeting in Chicago, IL, May 2009.

Notes

¹Additional predictive principles have been defined, but their description is beyond our purposes.

²Intrex software and manuals are available from the University of Utah. Information can be found at: http://www.psych.utah.edu/benjamin/sasb. The Intrex manual explains how to quickly generate within-subject correlations for all profiles after primary scoring is complete. Users can organize output from the program in a spreadsheet to allow easy visual inspection for presence of CP.

³Presence of adaptive copying can signal areas of strength or resiliency that can also be useful for treatment (e.g., calling on memories of an adaptive relationship to provide antidote to problem patterns learned from a maladaptive one) but is rarely the primary focus of a clinical CP assessment.