Seven psychoanalytic psychotherapists reflect on the clients that didn ’t get better, or even felt worse

A key theme was that it felt like having just half the client in therapy By Alex Fradera Psychotherapists are devoted to improving people’s psychological health, but sometimes their efforts fail. A new qualitative study in Psychotherapy Research delves into what therapists take away from these unsuccessful experiences. Andrzej Werbart led the Stockholm University research team that focused on eight therapy cases where the clients – all women under the age of 26 – had experienced no improvement, or in three cases, had deteriorated. This was based on comparing their pre- and post-therapy symptom levels following one to two sessions per week of psychoanalytically-focused therapy for about two years, to deal with symptoms such as depressed mood, anxiety, or low self-esteem. The seven therapists responsible for these cases (one had two non-improving clients) were also all women, average age 53, with a range of experience in therapy.  Each had had success in leading other clients to improvement, which is typical; the evidence shows even strong therapists have cases that fail. The therapists took part in interviews at the start and end of treatment using the Private Theories Interview – a way of exploring the therapist’s take on the case, how they are approaching it, and (retrospectively) what could have been handled differently. Werbart’s team used the grounded theory tradition to look for emerging patterns in the interviews and found a paradoxical picture. On the o...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Qualitative Therapy Source Type: blogs