Psychotherapy trainees ’ experiences of their own mandatory personal therapy raise “serious ethical considerations”

By Christian Jarrett Many training programmes for psychotherapists and counsellors include a mandatory personal therapy component – as well as learning about psychotherapeutic theories and techniques, and practising being a therapist, the trainee must also spend time in therapy themselves, in the role of a client. Indeed, the British Psychological Society’s own Division of Counselling Psychology stipulates that Counselling Psychology trainees must undertake 40 hours of personal therapy as part of obtaining their qualification. What is it like for trainees to complete their own mandatory therapy? A new meta-synthesis in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is the first to combine all previously published qualitative findings addressing this question. The trainees’ accounts suggest that the practice offers many benefits, but that it also has “hindering effects” that raise “serious ethical considerations”. David Murphy and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham conducted a systematic review of the literature and found 16 relevant qualitative studies up to 2016, involving 139 psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists in training and who had undertaken compulsory personal psychotherapy as part of their course requirements. Most the studies involved interviews with the trainees about their experiences; the others were based on trainees’ written accounts. Murphy and his team identified six themes in the trainees’ de...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Qualitative Therapy Source Type: blogs