Former Patients' Perception of Change and its Relation with Psychotherapeutic Interventions

BRAUN, MALENA; OLIVERA, JULIETA; BALBI, PAULA; ROUSSOS, ANDRES

Congreso; 42nd Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research; 2011

Society for Psychotherapy Research

INTRODUCTION: A more detailed exploration of the patient’s perspective is increasingly being recognized as valuable for the understanding of the psychotherapeutic processes. The development of studies oriented to the professional awareness about the perspectives of the patient will provide relevant data that will increase our comprehension of psychotherapy and its effects. AIM: The aim of this ongoing research is to analyze how former psychotherapy patients perceive change and how they associate the therapists´ interventions with that change. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative depth interviews, lasting approximately 90 minutes, were conducted with 15 former psychotherapy patients that had been in a psychotherapeutic treatment that ended no more than three years previous to the interview. A qualitative approach, with a thematic analysis, was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Results: The former patients’ descriptions of change and interventions clustered around different domains: Focus of the therapists’ interventions, in a continuum between symptom oriented to global functioning interventions; Type of bond (in terms of emotionally attached vs. detached) and Type of perceived change (as symptom adaptive vs. symptom altering). Discussion: The implications for clinical practice of the interrelation of those components of change and interventions are presented. The relevance of the “patient theories” about the process of change in psychotherapy generates hypothesis for future research.