The personal self of psychotherapists: Dimensions, correlates, and relations with clients

Abstract

Objective The personal self of psychotherapists, that is, experiences of self in close personal relationships and its association with therapists' individual and professional attributes is explored. The study aimed to: (a) describe therapists' self‐ratings on specific self‐attributes; (b) determine their dimensionality; (c) explore demographic, psychological, and professional correlates; and (d) assess the convergence with professional self. Method Data from the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire were available for > 10,000 psychotherapists of various professions, theoretical orientations, career levels, and nations. Results Most psychotherapists described themselves in close relationships in affirming terms (e.g., warm/friendly), although a substantial minority also described themselves in negative terms. Factor analyses yielded four dimensions: Genial/Caring, Forceful/Exacting, Reclusive/Remote, and Ardent/Expressive. Being Genial/Caring was associated with life satisfaction. Among professional attributes, personal self‐experiences, and parallel dimensions of relationship with clients correlated strongly. Conclusions Analyses of > 10,000 psychotherapists revealed meaningful variations in personal self relevant to personal and professional life.

The emotionally burdened psychotherapist: Personal and situational risk factors.

“…This lengthy instrument contains several subsections with varied measures assessing therapists' training/ education, professional practice (type of work and patients, treatment modalities), professional development, perceived therapeutic skills, difficulties experienced in practice, coping strategies, interpersonal style as a therapist, as well as various aspects of private life (such as early family relationships, economic level, family care and trauma, attachment, personal self in close relationships, and quality of life). The instrument has been found to have good psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistencies of items in subscales) and has shown promising signs of convergent, content, and predictive validity (e.g., Orlinsky et al, 2019).…”

“…The fourth item, also rated on a 6-point (0-5) scale, was: "Overall, how stressful is your life at present?" This measure has been used in several studies and shown consistent associations to therapy process and other measures of professional functioning (e.g., Nissen-Lie et al, 2013;Orlinsky et al, 2019).…”

“…Forceful/Exacting; 3. Reclusive/Remote) and Orlinsky et al (2019) identified a fourth temperament-based dimension as a communication style (4. Ardent/Expressive).…”

“…These findings resonate with temperament theory, which proposes that individuals high on Neuroticism are more prone to experiencing negative emotions and to process information in a negative way (Staw & Cohen-Charash, 2005). With respect to psychotherapists, substantial data based on scales assessing the therapist’s personal self (as experienced in the context of close personal relationships) have been studied in relation to a range of therapist characteristics (Heinonen & Orlinsky, 2013; Orlinsky et al, 2019), and are available for use in the present study. In those studies, factor analyses identified three reliable interpersonal circumplex-based dimensions (1.…”

“…Ardent/Expressive). Among a range of correlates to these dimensions of personal self , Orlinsky et al (2019) reported associations with therapists’ quality of life, primarily with personal life satisfactions (PS) but also with personal burdens (PB). Therapists who experienced themselves as more Genial/Caring, more Ardent/Expressive, and less Reclusive/Remote in their close personal relationships also reported higher levels of life satisfaction (PS).…”