Therapist reactions in self‐experienced difficult situations: An exploration

Abstract

This article describes a qualitative study of 63 difficult therapeutic situations described by 26 therapists. The study was part of research on specific reactions of therapists to traumatized clients. The research questions for the current analyses focused on the categorization of difficult situations, of short-term therapist reactions, and the exploration of situation-specific reaction patterns. The therapeutic style of the therapist was also explored. Three types of difficult situations were found: 'traumatic situations', 'interactional situations' and 'existential situations'. Therapist reactions were sorted into 20 categories; 10 of them were part of a situation-specific pattern. The therapeutic style of therapists was defined by a first dimension reflecting a continuum of experiencing versus actively intervening and a second dimension of feeling responsible. The relevance for therapist self-reflection, supervision and training is to acknowledge the specific difficulties in different therapeutic situations related to therapist-specific reactions, and to enhance constructive coping in accordance with the therapist's therapeutic style.

Developmental trajectories of competency attainment amongst clinical psychology trainees across field placements

“…The past decade has seen an increasing focus on assessment of psychology trainee competency across broad practice domains (Roth & Pilling, ; Smith, Kleun, & Hutschemaekers, ). The assessment of students’ competency has become an integral part of professional psychology training programs and is a practice widely adopted in the training of health service psychologists.…”

Self‐deception and the therapist: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experiences and understandings of therapists working with clients they describe as self‐deceptive

“…Similarly, other studies of therapists' experience of difficulties in practice (e.g. Davis, Elliott, & Davis, 1987;Schröder & Davis, 2004;Smith, Kleijn, & Hutschemaekers, 2007) suggest various factors contributing to therapists' difficulties, including clients' factors, therapists' factors, and situational factors.…”

“…IPA is considered a particularly relevant method for this study as it aims to give voice to and examine the personal experience of participants and how participants make sense of their experience (Smith, 2004). IPA is also interpretative in recognizing the role of the researcher in making sense of the experience of participants.…”

Cognitive fusion on counselor performance : A comparative study of the experienced and novice counselor

“…However, the process of reflecting and internalizing every aspect of the counselor's experience is the difference between novice and experienced counselors (Baum, 2006;Gibson et al, 2009). Experienced counselors have a lot of historical ref lection on their experiences; this at the same time also trains the counselor's accuracy and flexibility in managing his thoughts (Smith et al, 2007). On the other hand, novice counselors need extra effort and high skills to manage their thoughts quickly to gain the same particular competencies as experienced counselors.…”