The ISTFP research committee

The Research and Publication Committee was established within the ISTFP to promote attention toward research relevant to the field of TFP. John Clarkin has guided the Research Committee since the foundation of the ISTFP. During the past decade, I had the opportunity to assist Dr. Clarkin in the initiatives of the Committee. In particular, we had regular open meetings of the Committee during the biennial ISTFP conferences, and the stimuli from those meetings fostered the initiatives of the Committee. In 2022 I was given the exciting opportunity to chair the Research and Publication Committee and was honored to accept this role. The first task was to establish a group of members. With the precious consultation of John Clarkin and Stephan Doering, a list of highly competent and motivated colleagues emerged:

Marko Biberdzic, Victor Blüml, Anna Buchheim, John Clarkin, Chiara De Panfilis, Rossella Di Pierro, Stephan Doering, Karin Ensink, Eric Fertuck, Andrea Fontana, Susanne Hörz-Sagstetter, Maya Krischer, Maria Jesus Rufat

I could list several qualities when thinking about these esteemed colleagues mentioned above. I want to underline how this roster of members is representative of different sites and countries, different research backgrounds, and different areas of expertise. What all these members have in common, however, is an evident enthusiasm for fostering the empirical basis of object relations and TFP.

During the first inaugural meeting at the last ISTFP conference, the Committee discussed its mission and mid- and long-term goals. We agreed that the Committee would serve as a nexus of communication among clinical researchers in the ISTFP. The initiatives and actions that we are developing aim to stimulate and assist in generating research among members of the ISTFP. Areas of research interest include:

1. Psychopathology research, primarily as related to object relations theory
2. Adolescence and developmental research
3. Research on clinical assessment, e.g., STIPO-R, IPO-A, LPOq
4. TFP process and outcome research

After the inaugural meeting, the Committee has scheduled a periodic follow-up meeting to translate the ideal mission into practical operations. In particular, we identified some initiatives as priorities for our joint work:

1. Generation of a general research plan for conducting randomized clinical trials (RCT) of TFP.
   We all know how crucial it is to continue accumulating empirical evidence on the efficacy of TFP. New RCTs are paramount to continue being on the map of Evidence-Based Treatments for personality disorders. At the same time, such research efforts are hard to implement and pursue. Thus the Research Committee is supporting sites undergoing such efforts.
2. Consultation with potential sites for the conduction of RCTs of TFP.
   Along the same line, as some RCT plans are almost ready to start, we need to prepare new sites for (near) future efforts.
3. Mapping research expertise within the ISTFP
   The ISTFP community is unique in how clinical, theoretical, and research experiences are shared among many valuable members. We will soon circulate a brief survey for those members of ISTFP who are involved in research. We aim to get a clear map of such diffused expertise to create and foster collaboration networks.
4. Reviewing empirical evidence on TFP and the object relations model of personality pathology.
   The TFP model is unique compared to other treatment models in that therapeutic techniques derive from a specific well developed clinical and theoretical model of the mind. We thus think that, besides RCTs, we can foster the empirical foundations of TFP, stimulating research in other areas. In particular, we came up with some research areas, and we are now in the process of reviewing existing contributions in the following domains:
   • Developmental research and adolescence
   • Assessment
   • Social cognitive processes and neurobiological underpinnings
   • Psychotherapy research (outcome, process, mediators/moderators)

We have set an exciting and challenging roadmap, and we look forward to conducting this journey!

 Emanuele Preti