(Kunst)Fehler in der Psychotherapie

Nil nocere: How to avoid harm in psychotherapy training.

“…This result indicates that problematic behavior-if it is perceived as such-sometimes remains undisclosed for different reasons (e.g., anxiety, dependency, fear of rejection). In our survey of therapists (Frenzl et al, 2020), 2.5% of the 555 therapists reported having had sexual contact with a teacher or supervisor.…”

“…When therapists were asked if they knew about abusing colleagues (e.g., through patient reports), the number rose significantly, as shown in a study in Israel (29%, Aviv et al, 2006). In one of our own studies (Frenzl et al, 2020), 2.3% of the therapists reported sexual contacts with patients during or following the treatment, and 33.2% of the (555) therapists indicated treatments of patients with sexual boundary violations by their former therapists. In total, 81.4% of our sample reported having heard about serious boundary violations by colleagues, including sexual abuse, manipulative behavior, attacks, or inadequate therapy termination.…”

“…Recent systematic reviews (Frenzl & Strauss, 2022;Herzog et al, 2019) indicate promising study approaches in recent years, although the number of studies using standardized survey methods on the negative effects of psychological treatments is still low (according to Herzog et al, 2019Herzog et al, , only 32 studies since 1986. Herzog et al (2019) et al, 2019).…”

“…Comparable instruments are the Boundary Violation Index (Swiggart et al, 2008) and a self-assessment tool published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario (2023). In one of our own studies, we also developed a survey aimed at therapists assessing the occurrence of 100 different potentially harmful therapy situations during their therapeutic activity (Frenzl et al, 2020). The therapists expressed in the free comments of the survey how much the questionnaire had stimulated reflection and contributed to an increased awareness of different aspects of boundary crossings and violations.…”

“…For example, in an anonymous online survey among 74 Swedish cognitive behavior therapists (Bystedt et al, 2014), only 11% indicated having received information about negative effects during their basic clinical training. In one of our own studies (Frenzl et al, 2020), we asked practitioners about the value that the issue of ethical boundaries within psychotherapy had during their training. Only 4.2% indicated that the issue was processed sufficiently, whereas at least one fifth did not remember any discussion of these topics.…”