Therapeutic courage in novice therapists in Japan: A qualitative study.

Abstract

The concept of therapeutic courage is considered to be an essential therapist variable and is now at a stage of accumulating empirical support. The present study examined the subjective experience of therapeutic courage in Japanese novice therapists in order to gain insight into how culture and clinical experience contribute to the conceptualization and exercise of therapeutic courage. A total of 15 therapists with an average of 4.2 years of clinical experience were interviewed about therapy situations in which they were able or unable to exercise courage. The data was analyzed using grounded theory approach, which generated three main categories: living up to the professional role, keeping the balance, and tapping into an authentic voice. Japanese novice therapists were likely to be inhibited in their therapeutic courage due to feelings of incompetence, rigid views about presumed professional code of conduct and the fear of external evaluation. Taking action based on courage was a deliberated and well thought out decision. The role of therapeutic courage in the professional development of psychotherapists, as well as cultural influences, are discussed.

Enhancing Therapist Courage: Feasibility and Changes in Distress Tolerance and Equanimity Following Martial Arts-Based Radically Embodied Compassion Workshops

“…Other eminent therapists and researchers have contended that this is a process of using oneself as a tool in therapy [30,42,[44][45][46], which we have previously posited requires therapists to radically embody compassion [13]. Such compassionate courage may manifest and be represented in (greater) therapeutic presence [47][48][49], the internal capacity to bear challenges and tolerate difficult and overwhelming emotions [14,50], and various forms of positive therapeutic risk-taking [51][52][53].…”

Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Other Work-Related Mental Problems: Prevalence, Types, Assessment, and Treatment—A Scoping Review

“…Counter-intuitively, individuals with imposter syndrome, who are typically described as delivering superior work, score low on conscientiousness (61,62), which questions this public image and thus could be classified as work-related problem. Related to this, a combination of perfectionism, low self-esteem and the fear of being exposed may underly the phenomena of feelings of incompetence as described in novice psychotherapists (63,64), which might prevent them from working effectively with patients or supervisors.…”