Change process in systemic therapy: A qualitative investigation

Abstract

This study addresses the process of therapeutic change in individuals who received systemic therapy. This study is an exploratory qualitative study based on the client's perceptions and therapeutic experiences. The sample included 10 clients who had completed their therapy with systemic therapists. The method used for the collection of the data was semi‐structured interviews (Change Interview; Elliott, Slatick, & Urman, 2001). The interviews were analysed using grounded theory analysis. The results showed that both specific and common factors in therapy function in a co‐occurring mode, hence suggesting a synergy effect between common factors and specific techniques or therapist factors in psychotherapy. The core category ‘experience of therapeutic change, within the secure frame of therapy, is a process of deconstructing and reconstructing the house you live in: Yourself’ emerged based on self‐exploration and self‐discovery and is then discussed in a theoretical constructivist framework. Implications for research on the issue of the process of therapeutic change are discussed.

Clients’ own perspectives on psychotherapy outcomes and their mechanisms.

“…These themes have also largely been replicated in more heterogeneous client samples. For example, in a study of 10 clients with diverse presenting problems whose therapist classified them as having had a positive outcome after systemic therapy, the clients themselves endorsed positive outcome themes of improvement in self-esteem or self-confidence, boundary-setting or self-differentiation, resetting goals or directions in life, and changing or repairing relationships (Dourdouma et al, 2020). Similarly, in a sample of 17 former psychotherapy clients with diverse presenting problems, the most commonly identified positive outcome domains were interpersonal change, intrapersonal change, emotional change, and improved quality of life (Olivera et al, 2013).…”