Mental Activity and Referential Activity of Beginning Therapists: A Construct Validity Study of the Countertransference Rating System (CRS)

This study investigates the construct validity of a revised version of the Countertransference Rating System (CRS) by means of convergence with Referential Activity (RA). The CRS operationalizes three mental activity dimensions (rational-objective, reactive, and reflective) as processes of transformation of countertransferential contents elicited in a therapist by a patient’s object-relations units. The participants were 36 novice psychotherapists who shared their spontaneous reactions toward parental descriptions provided by conduct-disordered male adolescent patients. Globally, the reflective dimension was positively correlated with RA, whereas the other two dimensions—rational-objective and reactive—showed no association. Dominant categories within each dimension displayed patterns of correlation with RA that are consistent with the constructs. These results are discussed with reference to potential impact on intervention and training.