Intensive Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (ITAP): A case series study

Abstract

Intensive Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (ITAP) is a new therapeutic approach based on the integration of Transactional Analysis and brief psychodynamic approaches. ITAP is based on two key therapeutic tools—the intrapsychic triangle and the interpersonal triangle—which the therapist uses to focus patients’ attention on moment‐by‐moment therapy processes. The aim of the present study was to provide early empirical documentation of ITAP effectiveness. To this aim, six patients (four females, two males) were longitudinally evaluated using an A‐B‐A mixed quantitative and qualitative design, with evaluations at Baseline, Treatment and Follow‐up phases. Each patient received 16 50‐min weekly sessions of ITAP therapy over 4 months. For quantitative evaluations, patients filled out the Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation‐Outcome Measure (CORE‐OM) at each evaluation. Effects size values were estimated to evaluate quantitative changes comparing mean scores of Baseline, Treatment and Follow‐up phases. At the first follow‐up, the Change Interview was used to qualitatively evaluate patients’ perceived changes. In the quantitative data, four of the six patients reported a very good outcome, with large to very large effect sizes in Baseline versus Treatment and/or Baseline versus Follow‐up scores comparisons, whereas two patients reported variable fluctuations within the non‐clinical range of outcome scores. In the qualitative evaluations, all patients reported several moderately to extremely important perceived changes attributed to psychotherapy.

Case Report: Individualization of Intensive Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy on the Basis of Ego Strength

“…With the present article, we contribute to this line of research by contrasting two clinical cases in which ego strength-the main element of calibration of intensity in ITAP-produced different therapy processes and outcomes. We consider that single-case methodology can be particularly suitable for the investigation of individual factors (Messina et al, 2018(Messina et al, , 2019. It allows longitudinal evaluations with a large number of observations to look in detail at how change unfolds over time during the therapy of each specific patient.…”