What do psychotherapists really do in practice? An Internet study of over 2,000 practitioners.

Abstract

Over 2,200 North American psychotherapists completed a Web-based survey concerning their clinical work, including theoretical orientation, client characteristics, and use of specific psychotherapy techniques. Psychotherapeutic integration was common, with the majority of respondents identifying with more than one theoretical orientation or as having an eclectic orientation. The modal patient was a White female adult suffering from a mood or anxiety disorder and interpersonal problems. Individual psychotherapy was the preferred treatment modality. The most frequently endorsed techniques were relationship-oriented such as conveying warmth, acceptance, understanding, and empathy. The least frequently endorsed techniques were biofeedback, neurofeedback, body and energy therapies, and hypnotherapy. Efforts to disseminate empirically based therapies require understanding and accommodating clinicians’ tendencies to integrate techniques.

Do Practitioners Find A Psychodynamic Taxonomy Useful?

“…Our sample was not created by random sampling, though it approximates the general population of psychotherapy practitioners in the United States where most practitioners have a CBT orientation [12]. These finding do need to be replicated with other samples.…”

“…Practitioners' primary orientations were 33% CBT, 26% Psychodynamic, 22% Eclectic, 6% Humanistic/Existential, 6% Family Systems, .9% Behavioral, and 6% other. This sample closely reflects the general population of practitioners ( [12].…”

Counselling and Psychotherapy Orientations in Australia: Responses from 24 Australian Psychotherapists

“…Cook et al (2010) using data collected in an online study from 2000 psychotherapists in North America, identified that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) was the most commonly endorsed theoretical orientation, followed by family systems, mindfulness, psychodynamic and Rogerian/client-centred humanistic approaches. In addition, the majority of psychotherapists endorsed an eclectic approach.…”

“…Individuals throughout the world seek psychotherapy for reasons including stress, anxiety and depression amongst other presenting factors (Cook, Biyanova, Elhai, & Schnurr, 2010;Hohenshil, Amundson, & Niles, 2015). Although it could be speculated that individuals seek out therapy for similar reasons and that psychotherapists and counsellors have similar aims, research has identified that some theoretical orientations are more commonly used in some countries than others, and that changes may occur over time (cf., Pearson & O'Brien, 2012).…”

The Relationship Between Burnout, Interpersonal Commitment, Client Adherence, and Quality of Work Life Among Neurofeedback Practitioners

“…Research reported the importance of exploring client and practitioner relationships (Aguilar-Prinsloo & Lyle, 2010). A descriptive study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health reported that out of 2,136 mental health practitioners, 19 reported utilizing NFB (Cook, Biyanova, Elhai, Schnurr, & Coyne, 2010); authors postulated low NFB endorsement may be related to limited exposure in graduate training and the need for advanced NFB training and specialization after graduate training. Larson et al (2010) utilized a systematic and qualitative method to capture practitioner perspectives on client adherence, knowledge, skills, and traits related to NFB, which were utilized to design the following study.…”