Therapeutic attitudes and practice patterns among psychotherapy trainees in Germany

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to explore if and how values and attitudes from trainees of different psychotherapeutic schools vary during training. Another aim has been to evaluate the extent of their therapeutic selfconfidence during training. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 171 trainees in German institutes with different theoretical orientations (Psychoanalysis -PA, Psychodynamic Therapy -PT and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy -CBT) participated. Results are reported for two questionnaires: Therapeutic-Attitudes-Candidate-Version (ThAT-CV) and Work-Involvement-Scales (WIS). Results: Therapeutic attitudes showed significant differences between trainees with different theoretical orientations but no significant difference between different levels of training within the same school. Whereas the PA and CBT trainees endorsed contrasting attitude profiles, the PT group displayed less differentiated attitudes in between those contrasts. Most trainees experienced their psychotherapeutic practice as challenging, and Stressful Involvement in therapy sessions was lower with more years in training. Female trainees reported more Healing Involvement and felt more competent in general than their male colleagues. Self-reported competence was higher the more congruent the trainees' attitudes with their school's theoretical orientation. Conclusions: The ThAT-CV discriminates significantly between trainees of different therapeutic schools. Our sample demonstrates high identification with attitudes belonging to their theoretical orientation. This may account for high ratings of self-reported therapeutic competence. Attitudes seem to be formed before training and change little thereafter. Less differentiated attitudes may explain PT-trainees' higher levels of Stressful Involvement.

The development of therapeutic attitudes during and after psychotherapy training

“…that corresponds to their ideals and wishes. This is in agreement with the conclusion of the German cross-sectional study by Taubner et al (2010), demonstrating students' high identification with attitudes belonging to their theoretical orientation. Moreover, admission to the training was not only a matter of self-selection since the institute chooses students who are found suitable and in accordance with its ideals and norms.…”

“…A recent German study approached this issue with the TASC-2 scales (Taubner, Ka¨chele, Visbeck, Rapp, & Sandell, 2010), exploring how values and attitudes in trainees from institutes with different theoretical orientations (psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and CBT), vary between stages of training. This study is the first showing findings from applying the TASC-2 scales to psychotherapy trainees.…”

How beginning counselors learn: The interaction of personal and professional experiences in counselors with an experiential orientation

“…Furthermore, newer studies confirmed the relationship between a theoretical orientation of a counselor or therapist, on the one hand, and the personality characteristics or philosophical worldview of a counselor or therapist (Poznanski & McLennan, 2003;Tremblay, Herron, & Schultz, 1986) or a trainee (Boswell, Castonguay, & Pincus, 2009;Buckman & Barker, 2010;Taubner, Kächele, Visbeck, Rapp, & Sandell, 2010;Varlami & Bayne, 2007) on the other.…”

“…Their study did not answer the question of whether it was the therapist's personality giving preference to certain variables or whether it was the training which influenced the therapist's priorities. According to Taubner et al (2010), however, therapists' attitudes remain stable during training and their theoretical orientation seems to be rather predetermined. On the other hand, Vasco and Dryden (1994) assume that an experience of dissonance between therapists' personal beliefs and the theoretical and metatheoretical assertions of the chosen theoretical orientation may arise due to their personal or professional development and may lead to a change in theoretical orientation.…”

Ein empirischer Zugang zur Erfassung der Kompetenzentwicklung von PsychotherapeutInnen in Ausbildung

“…An einer Stichprobe von 171 deutschen Ausbildungsteilnehmerinnen konnten Taubner et al (2010) zeigen, dass schulenkonforme therapeutische Haltungen mit einer höheren Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung der Ausbildungsteilnehmerinnen einhergehen. Das Erleben des eigenen therapeutischen Handelns kann über die Work-InvolveEngagement der Forscherinnen voraus.…”