Termination of psychotherapy: The journey of 10 psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapists

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Design: Grounded Theory methodology has been applied in this study in order to conceptualise the process of termination from the therapist"s perspective. Permanent repository linkMethods: Ten psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapists were interviewed for this study.Results: Grounded Theory analysis of the data revealed five central categories: therapist as a person, therapist's awareness of termination, development of therapeutic relationship, working through termination, and the aftermath (post-termination phase).Conclusions: The results offer a Grounded Theory model of the therapist's journey through termination of therapy with patients. Subcategories and their relationships will be explored. Implications for clinical practice, limitations and suggestions for further research will be discussed.2

An exploration of ending psychotherapy: The experiences of volunteer counsellors

“…Length of intervention remains a relevant issue when considering outcomes and endings. Fragkiadaki and Strauss (2012) and Bamford and Akhurst (2014) are amongst the few researchers that have investigated counsellors' experiences of endings. Fragkiadaki and Strauss (2012) explored the experiences of 10 psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapists.…”

‘What are you taking away with you?’ Closing radio counselling encounters by reviewing progress

“…The invitation to the caller to reflect upon gains from the encounter and the subsequent review of the caller's understandings seem to be in line with several tasks of the ending phase of therapeutic process that have been described in the literature (see Fragkiadaki and Strauss, 2012;Hill, 2005;Maples and Walker, 2014): it shifts the focus to processing and reviewing progress, summarises and solidifies gains of the encounter, prepares the caller to dealing with his or her problem after the encounter is finished and may make the caller feel helped through framing his or her experience of the encounter as such where the caller has got something to take away with him or her. Besides, the practice serves to trace change in the help-seeker's perspective of his or her problem and to monitor the effect of the professional's interventions.…”

“…Theoretical discussions and studies of psychotherapists' self-reports have identified such tasks in the final phase of the therapeutic work: solidifying gains and improvements, making the client feel praised and helped, shifting the focus of talk to discussing therapeutic experience and change, framing personal development as invariably unfinished and collaboratively developing a future plan for the client's growth (Fragkiadaki and Strauss, 2012;Goode et al, 2017;Hill, 2005;Maples and Walker, 2014;Norcross et al, 2017). Remarkably, reports of experienced psychotherapists revealed commonality in termination behaviour across theoretical orientations and individual practitioners (Norcross et al, 2017).…”

Moving to Another World: Understanding the Impact of Clinical Trial Closure on Research Participants Living With HIV in Uganda

“…Respondents in our study suggested a need for weaning strategies to enable a planned (as opposed to an abrupt) cutoff from research-related care and relationships. This strategy has been suggested by other authors (Davis & Younggren, 2009;Wilson et al, 2007), as some evidence has indicated that relationships terminated abruptly were more likely to lead to negative emotions (Fragkiadaki & Strauss, 2012) . However, as the findings of our research suggest, little attention has been paid to understanding the impact of terminating close relationships in research contexts, a problem attributed to a lack of guidelines on this issue (Wilson et al, 2007).…”