How Patients Work On Their Plans and Test Their Therapists in Psychotherapy

Abstract

Relying primarily on Weiss and Sampson's control‐mastery theory (Sampson, 1976, 1991; Silberschatz, 2005; Weiss, 1986, 1993), I briefly describe how psychopathology develops and then discuss how patients1 work in psychotherapy to master their problems and conflicts. My focus is on two particular concepts: the patient's plan for therapy and the patient's testing of the therapist during psychotherapy.

Keywords:

• Control‐mastery theory
• psychodynamic theory
• psychotherapy

Notes

1. I use the term patient in the original sense of the word—one who suffers—rather than in the current medical model usage (see Silberschatz, 2005, p. xvi).

2. I am limiting my discussion here to tests in psychotherapy. However, it should be noted that conscious and unconscious testing occurs in all relationships; indeed, Weiss (1993) argued that testing is the primary way that people explore their interpersonal worlds.

3. This case is drawn from a training DVD, Psychotherapy Case Formulation from the Perspective of Control‐Mastery Theory, that my colleagues Susan Badger, Zohar Itzhar‐Nabarro, and I developed.