The Ukrainian Association of Transfer-Focused Psychotherapy was registered in September 2023 as a continuation of the work of the TFP Development Group in Ukraine.
The main idea for the creation and operation of the Association is the development, research, dissemination of the application of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy, or TFP.
TFP is a highly structured, manualized psychoanalytic model for the treatment of severe personality disorders, specifically borderline and narcissistic. TFP proceeds from the fact that personality disorders are directly related to a lack of identity integration (which corresponds to a lack of coherence in individual experience and understanding of both self and others). The technical side of the model consists of strategies, tactics and techniques aimed at integrating the patient's identity. The integration of identity, in turn, leads to the resolution of specific clinical symptoms, and in general to an increase in the ability to live a fuller life, to enjoy love, work and leisure.
More about the TFP model: link to the relevant page
The sources of formation of the TFP Development Group in Ukraine (or TFFP-Ukraine Group). were psychotherapists Oleksiy Lemeshchuk (started training the theory of object relations of Otto Kernberg as the author of the theory and later TFP - in 2015), Volodymyr Popov (started 2017), Anna Shurinov (2019), Irina Dobrynina (2019), Daria Lema (2020), Olga Kalashnikova (2020), Maria Tyshchenko (2020), Olga Gritskevich (2020), Anastasia Khotimskaya (2018), Silvia Perzhu (2020), Lilia Shevkunova (2019).
The need for national communityTFP was especially acutely felt at the beginning of a full-scale war. It was at this time that Ukrainian TPP-oriented therapists who were trained in foreign projects most acutely felt the need for unification, mutual support and continuation of joint professional development within the national community. Thanks to the energetic work of the leader of the TFFP-Ukraine group Oleksiy Lemeshchuk, who carried out all the organizational work, the group began its activities.
The main goals when establishing the Association were to develop TFP in Ukraine, as well as to provide support to each other in difficult wartime.
The idea of creating a national Ukrainian TFP community was vigorously supported by the leadership of the International Society of Transference Focused Psychotherapy (ISTFP), namely its president Frank Yeomans, as well as the ISTFP Council members, who provided significant emotional and methodological support.
We see in the office, and we also know from studies conducted, that TFP shows high efficacy in dealing with borderline and narcissistic patients. This model is also effective in treating other types of borderline personality disorders, such as hystrionic, paranoid, schizoid, dependent, hypomanic. In addition, TFP is effectively used for patients with neurotic disorders — hysterical, depressive-masochistic, and obsessive-compulsive.
The model has proven its value in working with adolescents, groups, couples and even in the medical context, where it is adapted for the doctor-patient relationship (applied TFP).
Given the effectiveness and wide range of TFP applications, we consider the comprehensive development and research of TFP in Ukraine and the training of therapists according to this model an extremely important task. This is the main mission of the Ukrainian Association of TFP.
The first thing we invested in was the organization of the process of training TFP therapists. Thus, as of March 2025, five Ukrainian specialists have already been certified as TFP therapists (certification is carried out by examiners — supervisors and lecturers-members of the ISTFP Board). Within the Association there are 10 Supervision Groups with leading TFP supervisors in Europe, South and North America. Among our supervisors: Monica Karski (USA), Nel Dryer (Netherlands), Katarina Gwuzdz (Poland), Veronica Steiner (Chile), Tennison Lee (UK), Mathie Norton-Pullen (Canada), Eduard Bakalar (Netherlands) and others. There is a supervisory group for deep mastering of STIPO-R - structured interview of the organization of personality. In addition, the full set of STIPO-R interviews has been translated into Ukrainian and put into practice, together with an application manual.
One of the important results of our work was the inclusion of TFP in the List of models of psychotherapy with proven effectiveness, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (December 13, 2023). №2118).
Translation has been organized and we are currently conducting scientific editing of Otto Kernberg's fundamental work “Severe Personality Disorders: Psychotherapeutic Strategies”. In line are other important English-language books and guides.
Our goal is to make TFP more accessible to more specialists and to promote higher standards of psychotherapy in Ukraine. There is a lot of work ahead and we are making every effort to ensure that the overall level of psychotherapeutic care increases. Transfer-focused psychotherapy is exactly the approach that allows to significantly raise the standards of psychotherapeutic practice.