Relations among psychotherapists’ epistemic orientation, personal style and emotion regulation

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine the relations among psychotherapists’ epistemic orientation (i.e., intuitive, empiricist, and rationalist), personal style and emotion regulation strategies. Participants in the study were 674 psychotherapists of different theoretical approaches, who completed an online questionnaire containing measures of epistemic orientation, personal style, and emotion regulation strategies. Psychotherapists profiled as predominantly intuitive tended towards broader attention and greater emotional closeness as compared to those profiled as predominantly rationalist or empiricist. Furthermore, they also reported using more strategies for increasing the effects of positive emotions than rationalists. Implications for training, practice and therapist well-being are discussed.

Psychotherapists’ psychological well‐being: The role of epistemic orientation and emotion regulation

“…Moreover, studies have found that therapists' personal epistemologies (e.g. rational, intuitive and empirical) are associated with their theoretical orientation choice (Arthur, 2001), therapy-related behaviours (Lee et al, 2013), use of self-care strategies (Brucato & Neimeyer, 2009) and emotion regulation strategies (Palma & Gondim, 2019). For instance, therapists endorsing an intuitive orientation were more likely to report using upregulation strategies (e.g.…”

“…For instance, therapists endorsing an intuitive orientation were more likely to report using upregulation strategies (e.g. savouring positive emotions) than those with a rationalist orientation (Palma & Gondim, 2019). Taken together, these findings suggest that therapists’ epistemic orientations may exert some level of influence over their behaviours inside and outside the therapeutic setting.…”