Michael Westerman

Michael Westerman

Associate Professor of Psychology

Research

 

Why do some people relate to others in dysfunctional ways even though this leads to disappointments and distress? In my research, I address this issue based on a model I have developed about what I call "interpersonal defense." My approach to defense shifts the focus away from the traditional emphasis on intrapsychic mechanisms regulating a person’s inner state. Instead, it calls for (1) viewing defenses primarily as interpersonal behavior patterns, (2) conceptualizing and operationalizing defensive behavior as a special type of problematic interaction pattern characterized by breaches in how discourse is organized over time, that is, failures in what I refer to as "coordination" (e.g., unmarked shifts of topic, rejecting accurate paraphrases), and (3) focusing on the role defensive interpersonal behavior plays in interpersonal interactions as a way of impacting subsequent interaction events.

 

The last point is important. People behave defensively because in some respects it leads to desired outcomes. However, it is also true that the "feed forward effects” of interpersonal defenses include unintended negative consequences. Among other things, the part of the theory that concerns these feed forward effects includes rejecting the self-fulfilling prophesy idea and offering a different account of why defensive interpersonal behavior patterns persist.

 

My current work on the theory focuses on patients with personality disorders treated as part of the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program at Beth Israel Medical Center. I am employing a case formulation approach based on the theory to carefully examine defensive interpersonal behavior and its consequences in the context of therapy sessions.

 

My work on interpersonal defenses grows out of an ongoing line of psychotherapy process research I have been pursuing for some time. In that line of research, I have developed an approach to studying patients’ contribution to the alliance based on my interests in coordination. I have found that assessments of patient interpersonal behavior in terms of processes of coordination are essentially orthogonal to the types of processes investigated in most other studies in this area and that coordination measures predict a large percentage of variance in treatment outcome over and above more commonly studied variables. This work has also led to interesting findings about the mechanisms of therapeutic change.

 

My research on interpersonal defenses extends that work on patient coordination. It provides answers to key questions raised by the research on patient coordination such as why patients behave in noncoordinating ways (with a therapist and in other relationships as well) and just how these problematic processes work against successful outcome. My research on coordination and interpersonal defenses aims at discovering especially helpful ways for therapists to work with their patients.

Philosophical Psychology

In addition to empirical research activities, I am actively involved in theoretical projects in which I consider links between philosophical matters on the one hand and, on the other hand, (a) basic questions about methods for studying human behavior, and (b) fundamental issues about how to formulate theories in psychology. The philosophical perspective that informs my approach to these theoretical projects and my empirical research as well is based on Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and also the American pragmatists.

Interpersonal defense theory is closely linked to my interests in philosophy. The theory reflects a fundamental perspective that takes as its cornerstone notion the idea that a person is situated in the world, a viewpoint that differs fundamentally from the Cartesianism that implicitly guides much work in the discipline at large. Many features of the theory, including its conceptualization of defensive interpersonal behavior patterns as coordination breaches, follow from this general perspective.

Education

  • 1971 A.B., Philosophy, Harvard University
  • 1980 Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Southern California

Affiliations:

- American Psychological Association
- New York State Psychological Association
- Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration
- Society for Psychotherapy Research
- Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research

Fellowships/Honors:

- Phi Beta Kappa
- Sigma Xi
- Social Science Research Council Research Training Fellowship
- University of Southern California Beaumont Fellowship
- National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellowship

Editorial Board:

- Psychotherapy Research (1996 – 2004, 2010 – present)
- Journal of Counseling Psychology (2005 - 2011)
- Journal of Research in Personality (2006 - 2009)
- Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (2008 - present)

Publications

Westerman, M. A. (2019). Case formulation in interpersonal defence theory: A process model of interpersonal phenomena that play key roles in psychopathology and psychotherapy. In U. Kramer (Ed.), Case formulation for personality disorders: Tailoring psychotherapy to the individual client (pp. 315-335). London, United Kingdom: Elsevier.

Westerman, M. A. (2018). Interpersonal defense theory: An integration of philosophical considerations, psychoanalytic concepts, and perspectives on interpersonal processes that provides a guide for a wide range of therapeutic interventions. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 28, 310-328.

Westerman, M. A. (2018). What is novel about interpersonal defense theory and why those differences make a difference: Taking conflict seriously in a process model of problematic interpersonal phenomena. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 28, 338-347.

Westerman, M. A., & de Roten, Y. (2017). Investigating how interpersonal defense theory can augment understanding of alliance ruptures and resolutions: A theory-building case study. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 34, 13-25.

Westerman, M. A., & Muran, J. C. (2017). Investigating an approach to the alliance based on interpersonal defense theory. Psychotherapy Research, 27, 620-641.

Westerman, M. A. (2017). Building on Wachtel’s points about implications of Mitchell’s ideas: Suggestions based on the participatory philosophical perspective for locating the person in the world of practical activities. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 27, 530-545.

Westerman, M. A. (2014). The case of “Kate” and her pseudohallucinations from the perspective of interpersonal defense theory: An example of using case formulations as the key guide for understanding patients’ problems and making treatment decisions. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, Vol. 10(4), Article 3, 271-286. Available:  http://hdl.rutgers.edu/172.1/pcsp_journal

Westerman, M. A. (2014). Examining arguments against quantitative research: “Case studies”     illustrating the challenge of finding a sound philosophical basis for a human sciences approach   to psychology. New Ideas in Psychology, 32, 42-58.

Westerman, M. A. (2013). Making sense of relational processes and other psychological phenomena: The participatory perspective as a post-Cartesian alternative to Gergen’s relational   approach. Review of General Psychology, 17, 358-373.

Westerman, M.A. (2011). Defenses in interpersonal interaction: Using a theory-building case study to develop and validate the theory of interpersonal defense. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, Vol. 7(4), Article 3, 449-476. Available: http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/pcsp_journal

Westerman, M. A., & Yanchar, S. C. (Eds.) (2011). Quantitative research in an interpretive vein (Special Issue). Theory & Psychology. 21, 139-274.

Westerman, M. A., & Yanchar, S. C. (2011). Changing the terms of the debate: Quantitative methods in explicitly interpretive research. Theory & Psychology, 21,139-154.

Westerman, M A. (2011). Conversation analysis and interpretive quantitative research on psychotherapy process and problematic interpersonal behavior. Theory & Psychology, 21, 155-178.

Westerman, M. A. (2009). What can we learn from case studies? More than most psychologists realize. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, Vol. 5(3), Article 5, 53-70. Available: http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/pcsp_journal

Westerman, M. A., & Steen, E. M. (2009). Revisiting conflict and defense from an interpersonal perspective: Using structured role plays to investigate the effects of conflict on defensive interpersonal behavior. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 26, 379-401.

Westerman, M. A., & Steen, E. M. (2007). Going beyond the internal-external dichotomy in clinical psychology: The theory of interpersonal defense as an example of the participatory approach. Theory & Psychology, 17, 323-351.

Dahmen, B., A., & Westerman, M. A. (2007). Expectations about the long-term consequences of recurring defensive interpersonal behavior. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1073-1090.

Yanchar, S. Y., & Westerman, M. A. (Eds.) (2006). Reconsidering quantitative research approaches: New interpretations and future possibilities (Special Issue). New Ideas in Psychology, 24(3).

Westerman, M. A. (2006). Quantitative research as an interpretive enterprise: The mostly unacknowledged role of interpretation in research efforts and suggestions for explicitly interpretive quantitative investigations. New Ideas in Psychology, 24, 189-211.

Westerman, M. A., & Prieto, D. M. (2006). Expectations about the short-term functional role played by defensive behavior in interpersonal interactions. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 1015-1037.

Westerman, M. A. (2005). What is interpersonal behavior? A post-Cartesian approach to problematic interpersonal patterns and psychotherapy process. Review of General Psychology, 9, 16-34 .

Westerman, M. A. (2004). Theory and research on practices, theory and research as practices: Hermeneutics and psychological inquiry. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 24, 123-156.

Westerman, M. A. (1998). Reconceptualizing defense as a special type of problematic interpersonal behavior pattern: A fundamental breach by an agent-in-a-situation. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 19, 257-302.

Westerman, M. A., Foote, J. P., & Winston, A. (1995). Change in coordination across phases of psychotherapy and outcome: Two mechanisms for the role played by patients' contribution to the alliance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 672-675.

Westerman, M. A., & Foote, J. P. (1995). Patient coordination: Contrasts with other conceptualizations of patients' contribution to the alliance and validity in insight-oriented psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 32, 222-232.

Westerman, M. A. (1993). A hermeneutic approach to integration: Psychotherapy within the circle of practical activity. In G. Stricker & J. Gold (Eds.), The comprehensive handbook of psychotherapy integration (pp. 187-216). New York: Plenum Press.

Westerman, M. A. (1990). Coordination of maternal directives with preschoolers' behavior in compliance problem and healthy dyads. Developmental Psychology, 26, 621-630.