Orya Tishby

• PsyD
• Professor (Assistant) at Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Background Complementing the development of evidence-based psychological therapies, practice-based evidence has developed from patient samples collected in routine care, addressing questions relevant to patients and practitioners, and thereby expanding our knowledge of psychological therapies and their impact. Implementation of assessments in routi...

Background: Complementing the development of evidence-based psychological therapies, practice-based evidence has developed from patient samples collected in routine care, addressing questions relevant to patients and practitioners, and thereby expanding our knowledge of psychological therapies and their impact. Implementation of assessments in rout...

The pattern of rupture and repair within therapeutic alliances has been associated with improved outcome. The present study adds to this body of research by examining rupture and repair from a dyadic perspective. First, we examined the relationship between mutual recognition of ruptures, rupture intensity, and client ratings of session helpfulness....

William Ming Liu served as action editor. The American Psychological Association task force on empirically supported therapy relationships defined countertransference (CT) management (i.e., awareness of CT) as a “promising” element in psychotherapy research. The present study aimed to examine how changes in therapist CT and awareness of CT relate t...

This manuscript challenges the notion of “therapist drift”—the deviation from evidence-based practices due to the partial application or non-adherence to treatment protocols—proposing that such deviations often reflect good clinical judgment and a commitment to personalized patient care. Drawing on recent research, we argue against the conventional...

Objective The study aimed to explore how changes in clients' relational patterns during psychodynamic psychotherapy relate to treatment outcomes and therapy effectiveness. Method Seventy clients receiving psychodynamic psychotherapy in a university counseling center were interviewed three times and filled out the OQ‐45 questionnaire five times dur...

Background Individuals with different attachment classifications (Secure, Avoidant and Preoccupied) may experience emotional closeness differently, in their intimate relationships but also as clients in psychotherapy. However, evidence for this assumption almost exclusively comes from research with self-report questionnaires. Aims In this paper, w...

Objective: This study examined the relationships between patient-therapist similarity and therapy outcome. We aimed to explore whether patient-therapist match in personality and attachment styles leads to a better therapy outcome. Method: We collected data from 77 patient-therapist dyads in short-term dynamic therapy. Patients' and therapists' p...

Countertransference (CT) is considered a central component in the therapy process. Research has shown that CT management does not reduce the number of CT manifestations in therapy, but it leads to better therapy outcomes. In this study, we examined therapists' awareness of their CT using a structured interview. Our hypotheses were (a) treatments in...

This study examines how changes in clients’ and their therapists’ perceptions of the therapeutic distance relate to changes in their reported alliance. Alliance is commonly measured using self‐report questionnaires that provide information regarding the partners’ bond and collaboration, but do not reflect the interactions or events underlining them...

Based on the attachment framework, therapeutic distance conceptualization focuses on closeness–distance dynamics in the therapeutic relationship. We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Therapeutic-Distance-Scale, Observer-version (TDS-O) and apply a dyadic approach to examine associations between attachment characteristics and ther...

Background Ruptures in the alliance are co-constructed by clients and therapists, reflecting an interaction between their respective personality configurations [Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A relational treatment guide. Guilford Press]. In order to work effectively with ruptures, therapists should be a...

Attachment theory provides a framework for examining closeness–distance experiences in the development of the therapeutic relationship. Objective To examine changes in clients' and therapists' experiences of therapeutic distance along with psychodynamic therapy. Hypotheses: Clients' and therapists' comfort with closeness and distance will increase...

Objective: Ruptures and repairs in alliance and their association with treatment outcome have been studied widely. Many of these studies have used indirect methods, focused on decreases in alliance across sessions while measuring alliance at postsession. However, this approach does not establish whether observed decreases occur within (as insinuat...

Fluctuaciones en las emociones del terapeuta y su relación con los procesos y resultados del tratamiento Investigaciones recientes sugieren que los cambios en las emociones de los terapeutas están relacionados con cambios en el patrón de relaciones y características de sus clientes (Dahl, 2016) durante la terapia. Este es un estudio exploratorio en...

Countertransference may reflect the patients’ diagnosis and can be used to better understand patients’ inner worlds and core conflictual relationship themes (CCRTs). Thus, the changing emotions of therapists can serve as a marker of treatment processes. This exploratory study aims to identify how the interaction between patients’ CCRT patterns and...

In a previous study, it was found that several constructs derived from a positive definition of mental health had changed during psychotherapy. It remains unclear whether they change as part of a single process together with symptomatic change, as part of separate processes, or whether a change in one of the variables predicts change in another var...

A large body of research indicates that therapists can have a strong impact on treatment outcome, but little is known about the relationship between therapist effects and treatment phase. Our objective was to examine the interactive effect of therapist effectiveness and treatment phase on the outcome of 1 year of dynamic therapy. Therapists' effect...

Objectives: This study comprised an examination of whether clients’ playfulness, creativity, honesty, humor, and happiness changed during psychotherapy. Methods: Sixty-two clients who underwent psychotherapy in a naturalistic setting completed questionnaires at five time points throughout treatment. An HLM analytic approach was applied to account f...

Improvisational (or now) moments can serve as important change mechanisms in psychotherapy. Yet there is little understanding of the therapists’ subjective experiences during those Improvisation Experiences (IE). In this pilot study, 17 clinicians reported on their clinical IE following theater improvisation training. Reports were analyzed in relat...

Flexibility, Therapeutic Presence (TP), and collaborative tendency are core capacities in clinical social work as well as in theater improvisation. This mixed-methods pilot study studied the effects of theater improvisation training on 35 graduate-level social work students, who participated in an experiential, semester-long ‘theater improvisation...

The goal of this study was to explore the contribution of relational characteristics in the supervisory relationship to supervisee's self efficacy and to their interpersonal therapeutic skills in work. The purpose of this study was to promote understanding and development of recovery oriented models of training and supervising MH professionals work...

Objective: This study examined whether therapists' honesty, humor style, playfulness, and creativity would retrospectively predict the outcomes of therapies ended five years earlier. Method: In the Jerusalem-Haifa study, 29 therapists treated 70 clients in dynamic psychotherapy for 1 year. The Outcome Questionnaire 45 scores were collected at fi...

Clinical research suggests that therapists in their sessions be spontaneous, open to self and others on a moment-to-moment awareness, and to communicate in an honest and direct manner. These relationship skills can be difficult to teach. Theater improvisation skills increase spontaneity, animation and co-creation with the other, as well as enhance...

Objective: We describe client-therapist relational narratives collected in relationship anecdotes paradigm (RAP) interviews during psychotherapy and the application of the core conflictual relationship theme (CCRT) method. Changes in clients' and therapists' CCRT in relation to each other are examined and associations between their CCRTs and self-...

The goal of this study was to explore the contribution of relational characteristics in the supervisory relationship to supervisee's self efficacy and to their interpersonal therapeutic skills in work. The purpose of this study was to promote understanding and development of recovery oriented models of training and supervising MH professionals work...

Objective: We differentiated two hypothesized client subtypes: (a) Pseudosecure clients have high Client Attachment to Therapist Scale (CATS) Secure and high CATS Preoccupied scores, tend to idealize their therapist, and exhibit maladaptive dependency; (b) Individuated-secure clients combine high Secure with low Preoccupied scores and function mor...

Key practitioner message: The interaction of client and therapist relational patterns may be a key factor in the development of the therapeutic alliance and might potentially impact client outcome. Therapeutic practice will likely be improved if therapists are more aware of their own relational patterns and the ways these interact with their clien...

The Client Attachment to Therapist Scale (CATS) assesses three dimensions of attachment between client and therapist: Secure, Avoidant, and Preoccupied. Clients with high Preoccupied scores tend to exhibit a maladaptive dependency on their therapist. The tendency of some of these clients to simultaneously idealize their therapist while they fear ab...

Objective: Two groups of clients at sequential developmental stages, adolescents and emerging adults, were compared regarding their presenting problems, psychological distress, and relationship representations over one year of psychotherapy. Method: Thirty adolescents aged 14-18 years and 30 emerging adults aged 22-28 years, with similar demogra...

Background: Measuring the progress of mental health treatment aids in assessment and monitoring of psychotherapeutic outcomes. The OQ-45 is a widely accepted measure of such outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate the Hebrew and Arabic versions of the OQ-45. Method: Data were collected from three samples: non patient university students...

Method: Thirty adolescents (aged 15-18 years, 70% women) undergoing psychodynamic psychotherapy participated in relationship anecdote paradigms interviews based on the core conflictual relationship theme method and completed outcome measures at the beginning of treatment and a year later. Results: Adolescents' positive representations of their t...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a typology of countertransference (CT) based on therapists' narratives about their parents and their clients. Method: Data are based on interviews conducted in the early, middle and late phases of ongoing psychodynamic psychotherapy with five therapists who treated 12 clients. Narratives were a...

Objective: We examined the associations between client attachment, client attachment to the therapist, and symptom change, as well as the effects of client-therapist attachment match on outcome. Clients (n = 67) and their therapists (n = 27) completed the ECR to assess attachment. Method: Clients completed also the Client Attachment to Therapist...

Abstract This study explored whether and how internal representations of adolescents' relationship with their parents-a fundamental concept in psychodynamic theory-changed in the course of a year of treatment and whether the observed changes were related to changes in symptoms. Seventy two adolescents (ages 15-18; 30 in treatment and 42 in a non-tr...

The concept of the collaborative relationship between patient and therapist has its roots in the psychodynamic literature. We trace the concept of collaboration in psychodynamic psychotherapy from classical psychoanalysis to contemporary psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies. The active collaboration between the participants central to Bordin'...

Countertransference is a central construct in the clinical literature (Freud, 1910; Gabbard, 2001), yet it has generated very little research to date. The present study used the CCRT method (Luborsky & Crits- Cristoph, 1998) to measure countertransference themes in a sample of 12 therapists, who described relationship episodes with their parents an...

Unlabelled: The present study examined changes in the rigidity of interpersonal patterns and symptoms in adolescents (ages 15-18) in a year-long psychodynamic psychotherapy. Seventy-two adolescents (30 in treatment and 42 in a non-treatment "community group") underwent Relationship Anecdote Paradigm (RAP) interviews according to the Core Conflictu...

The article presents the results of a study on the association between exposure to family violence (i.e., witnessing interparental violence and experiencing parental violence) during childhood and adolescence and adult posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study was conducted among a self-selected convenience sample of 476 students from Sri Lan...

The core conflictual relationship theme (CCRT) method was used in psychodynamic therapy with 10 adolescents to study change in interpersonal conflicts in the course of treatment. Relationship anecdote paradigm interviews were conducted at the beginning of therapy and before termination 8 to 9 months later. Adolescents were asked to describe 4 relat...

The authors tracked patient progress in two cases of time-limited psychotherapy using the Rutgers Psychotherapy Progress Scale (RPPS; Spillman, 1991), which assesses in-session progress in psychodynamic therapy on six different dimensions. Two judges rated the transcripts of two female patients who were selected from the Jerusalem Short-Term Projec...

This study investigated the willingness of Israeli adolescents to seek help for emotional and health problems, and their preference for various helping agents. Nearly fifteen hundred students in grades 7-12 participated in a comprehensive survey of attitudes, health status, and concerns, and the data were analyzed. Gender and age were identified as...

This study addresses three questions related to the central issue (CI) in Time Limited Psychotherapy (TLP): (a) Will different therapists formulate the same or similar CI for a given patient? (b) Will therapists agree on the accuracy of the CI suggested to the patient? (c) Is there a relationship between therapists' agreement on the CI and outcome...

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) in adolescents has received scant attention when compared with that given to children. With or without hyperactivity, ADD does not disappear at puberty and is an important factor in scholastic and social failure in adolescents. As a condition associated with decreased metabolism in the premotor and prefrontal superi...

This study tested the reliability of the Plan Compatibility of Intervention Scale (PCIS) and its ability to predict patient progress within two different psychodynamic Plans or formulations: Cognitive-dynamic and object relations. High PCIS interrater reliabilities were achieved based on both theory-based Plans, suggesting that the Plan and the PCI...

Reviews the book, The Narcissistic/Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Marital Treatment by Joan Lachkar (see record 1992-97450-000 ). The narcissistic/borderline couple differs from other psychodynamic texts on borderline patients in that it focuses on the meeting of these two personality types, rather than on the individual, and in...

This study examined the process of brief psychodynamic therapy in a way that preserved the context of the dialogue between therapist and patient. Data were drawn from transcripts of the complete therapies of 2 anxious and depressed women, which lasted 16 to 17 sessions. Patient utterances were rated on a psychodynamically oriented progress-stagnati...