ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to investigate the development of psychotherapists' professional self during training and the first few years after it. Constant comparison analysis was conducted on interviews with former students (N = 18) at a training institute for psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The resulting core category "searching for recognition" indicated that participants' ambition during the studied time period was to reach high status by becoming psychotherapists. During training, this was expressed by the category "attachment to preformed professional self," meaning that students wanted their preconceptions about therapy to be acknowledged by teachers. After training, participants experienced achieved recognition and, as a result, a sense of freedom to use their own judgment.
Subject(s)
Clinical Competence , Psychotherapy/standards , Female , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Middle Aged , Professional-Patient Relations , Psychology, Clinical/education , Psychology, Clinical/standards , Psychotherapy/education , Sweden , WorkforceSubject(s)
Psychotherapy , Humans , Professional Competence , Psychotherapy/education , Psychotherapy/standardsABSTRACT
The study aims to explore systematically the ideas of cure among young adults prior to psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Forty-six individuals aged 18 to 25 years who applied for psychotherapy underwent the Private Theories Interview (PTI). Twenty distinct categories of ideas of cure were identified. Based on these categories, a theoretical model was constructed with the dimensions, Approaching-Distancing and Doing-Receiving. Individuals were classified into types using "ideal type analysis." Seven ideal types were formed: Processing and Understanding, Mastering Through Own Will and Action, Talking, Discordant Ideas, Incoherent Ideas, Getting It Out, and Avoiding or Placing the Solution onto Others. New hypotheses emerged concerning ideas of cure as an important factor for psychotherapy matching, thus potentially predicting premature termination, alliance, and outcome.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Patients/psychology , Psychotherapy , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Interview, Psychological , Male , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , SwedenABSTRACT
The aims of this naturalistic study are to present patient characteristics and analyse various outcome measures at termination for psychoanalytic psychotherapies with young adults. Patients (n = 134) between 18 and 25 years were included, of whom 92 received individual and 42 group therapy. One third had a self-reported personality disorder. The patients were considerably more troubled than Swedish norm groups at intake and they showed improvement on all outcome measures during therapy. However, the post therapy means did not fully reach the norm group means. The largest positive changes (pre- versus post-therapy) were with respect to the patients' overall health and functioning. Changes were more moderate in self-reported symptoms, self-concept, and self-representation, while changes in interpersonal problems and object representations were small. The results of this study are discussed in the context of advantages and disadvantages of naturalistic versus randomized controlled study designs.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders/therapy , Depressive Disorder/therapy , Interpersonal Relations , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Personality Disorders/therapy , Psychoanalytic Therapy , Psychotherapy, Group , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adult , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Female , Humans , Interview, Psychological , Male , Object Attachment , Parent-Child Relations , Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data , Personality Disorders/diagnosis , Personality Disorders/psychology , Psychometrics , Reference Values , Self ConceptABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Previous research has reported large differences in treatment results between individual therapists practising the same type of psychotherapy, but little is as yet known about the factors explaining this variation. In previous studies the authors have found associations with therapeutic attitudes as measured by the TASC 2 scales. METHODS: A sample of 160 therapists were clustered in a non-parametric latent class (LC) regression modelling of their patients' repeated self-ratings on the SCL-90 across stages in psychotherapeutic treatment. This classification was then explored in relation to the therapists' TASC 2 scores. RESULTS: Five classes were identified differing widely in terms of the patients' outcome trajectories. Membership in these classes was significantly influenced by the therapists' scores on the TASC 2 scales. The adjustment, neutrality and artistry scales of the TASC 2 were found specifically discriminative. A discriminant analysis confirmed the findings in general. Collectively, the TASC 2 scales were able to assign 56% of the therapists to their correct latent class, in comparison with 20% by chance. CONCLUSIONS: Therapists with a psychoanalytic or eclectic orientation are systematically different in terms of the outcomes they tend to contribute to with their patients. This variation is partly accounted for by differences in their therapeutic attitudes.
