Four experiments tested a key tenet of Bornstein's (1992, 1993) cognitive/interactionist (C/I) model of interpersonal dependency: that priming the helpless self-schema (HSS) alters processing of dependency-related information in dependent--but not nondependent--individuals. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed the effects of subliminal lexical priming and an emotional priming manipulation on lexical decision (LD) judgments for dependency-related words and control words. Experiments 3 and 4 assessed the effects of these same priming procedures on Interpersonal Stroop Task (IST) performance. As predicted, priming the HSS produced contrasting effects on different outcome measures, decreasing LD latencies, but increasing IST response times. Results are discussed in the context of the C/I model, and suggestions for future studies are offered.
Research supports the construct validity of the Relationship Profile Test (RPT; Bornstein & Languirand, 2003), a 30-item, self-report measure of destructive overdependence (DO), dysfunctional detachment (DD), and healthy dependency. In this investigation, we assessed the relationships of gender, gender role, and gender role stereotype ratings to RPT subscale scores. In Study 1, we replicated earlier patterns of gender differences in RPT scores, assessed cross-sample consistency in gender difference effect sizes, and provided preliminary nonclinical norms for the RPT subscales. Study 2 showed that--as expected--DO items are perceived as stereotypically feminine, whereas DD items are perceived as stereotypically masculine. In Study 3, we examined the relationships of RPT subscale scores to masculinity, femininity, and androgyny scores. We discuss the theoretical, empirical, and clinical implications of these findings.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that individuals with a dependent personality are at increased risk for anxiety disorders. Meta‐analysis of 53 studies examining the comorbidity of dependent personality disorder (DPD) and one or more anxiety disorders (ADs) revealed that the overall DPD‐AD relationship is modest in magnitude (mean r = .11) and holds for some ADs but not others. Follow‐up analyses indicated that the DPD‐AD link was not moderated by diagnostic system, assessment method, or comparison group (other personality‐disordered patients versus non‐personality‐disordered controls). Given these findings, future versions of the DSM may need a more tentative and qualified description of DPD‐AD comorbidity.
Over the past 20 years, object relations theory has broadly influenced general psychiatry. Along with its insights, the theory has brought its own conundrums. This paper provides an overview of the theory, indicating its contributions--such as a basis for individual psychotherapy of severe disorders and a more effective understanding of countertransference--and its shortcomings--such as lack of an explanation for the effects of physical and cognitive factors on object relatedness. Object relations theory fills a niche in the biopsychosocial model but is not a complete psychology for general psychiatry. Rather, it is an addition to drive theory and ego psychology within psychoanalysis.
This paper illustrates splitting and projective identification among people with normal and neurotic personality organizations. Adding these concepts to the repertoire of analytically oriented psychotherapists does not replace previous theories but adds to them. This approach can be integrated with drive theory and ego psychology in practice, or can be used to supplement the approaches of cognitive or interpersonal therapists. Not only borderline patients, but all of us, continually need to define and re-define ourselves in relation to others as we grow and change. The concepts of splitting and projective identification can help when that growth process becomes stymied.
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