“We Are All Trying to Find a Way to Help Ourselves”: A Look at Self-Help Strategies Among Psychotherapy Clients

Objective: This study examined self-help strategies engaged by psychotherapy clients and explored their views on such self-help approach.Methods: Secondary analysis of data from a qualitative research study was conducted. A total of 15 psychotherapy clients were recruited, and data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of data was conducted using inductive approach to examine the content.Results: Three main themes revolving around self-help strategies were identified: (1) types of self-help strategies, (2) reasons for engaging in self-help activities, and (3) effectiveness of self-help strategies.Conclusion: The self-help approach to manage distress is common among psychotherapy clients. This study provided insights into understanding how and why clients use self-help strategies in their daily lives.

Psychoterapeutki i psychoterapeuci wobec konsekwencji pandemii COVID-19. Analiza z perspektywy teorii traumy zmian społecznych

This paper aims to analyze the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the individuals’ mental conditions, focusing on psychotherapy clients. The sources of knowledge about mental condition changes analyzed here are psychotherapists’ reports. One of the research purposes was to examine to what extent the problems resulting from the pandemic are visible from the perspective of psychotherapists’ offices. Moreover, the authors explore the changes in psychotherapists’ functioning and the adjustments of psychotherapy understood as one of the expert systems in a late modern society affected by social changes’ trauma. Adopting the theory of social trauma (Alexander 2004, Sztompka 2002) as the frame of analysis enables examining the relation between personal but repeatable experiences of emotional crises and their global context determined by the pandemic. This paper’s empirical foundation is the survey research on a sample of 384 Polish psychotherapists carried out between August 10 and September 30 as a part of the project „Psychotherapeutic work in the pandemic time” supported by the Faculty of Sociology at Adam Mickiewicz University. The research results enable registering the increased intensity of problems resulting from social stress among people searching for psychotherapeutic support and those working in the helping professions. Simultaneously, changes in the functioning of the whole expert system of psychotherapy may be interpreted as the attempts to compensate for the social order destabilization that results in the growing stress and overburden of individuals.

From Climate Anxiety to Climate Action: An Existential Perspective on Climate Change Concerns Within Psychotherapy

With the growing body of knowledge climate change stands out as one of the most important contemporary problems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the urgent necessity to reduce greenhouse gases emission, as the window to address the problem is becoming narrow. Rising temperatures and bushfires, melting glaciers and droughts make the acceleration of climate change evident, and citizens around the globe are increasingly worried about the magnitude of the problem. In this article, we propose an existential perspective on climate change-related concerns. Although environmental worries are legitimate, they sometimes cause severe anxiety and distress so aggravated as to be discussed within the framework of psychotherapy. In the course of this research, we examine the experiences of 10 Swedish psychotherapy clients addressing their climate concerns within treatment. We engage them into in-depth conversations about the experience of climate anxiety and inquire about the individual pathways toward recovery. Moreover, we propose the existential perspective as a tool to understand such experiences. We aim to address all existential concerns, as described in Ernesto Spinelli’s themes of existence framework: death anxiety, spatiality, temporality, meaning, relatedness, authenticity, freedom, and responsibility. All of the above are present in participants’ reports of climate anxiety. In conclusion, we emphasize the value of introducing existential perspective to practitioners working with clients experiencing climate distress.

A place for therapy: Clients reflect on their experiences in psychotherapists’ offices

Previous research suggests that the physical environment of the psychotherapy office is important for treatment engagement, client feelings and behavior, and clinician support. However, there is limited research that includes the voices of psychotherapy clients. The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings clients ascribe to the offices in which they seek treatment in order to develop a fuller picture of the importance of the place of treatment. Eight psychotherapy clients in a large urban city were interviewed about their experiences of their psychotherapy offices using semi-structured protocols. Analysis of interviews identified three main themes in regard to client perception of the offices’ uses: (a) comfort, (b) connection, and (c) insight into the therapist. Results highlight the potential importance of the physical environment in psychotherapy treatment and implications for practice are provided.

The Role of Practice-Based Evidence and Feedback Informed Treatment for Improving Therapy Outcomes

Attrition rates and deterioration of counselling and psychotherapy clients are two major concerns for those delivering psychological therapies across differential modalities. While a variety of correlations are said to contribute to attrition and deterioration such as, client, therapist and clinical level, identifying and improving outcomes for this cohort of people in routine practice is difficult. Even with the addition of hundreds of empirically supported treatments added to the profession, outcomes have not improved in line with these new approaches. Methods to limit the extent of poor outcomes has been established in the extent literature, thus, practice-based evidence is put forward focusing on Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT).

Delivering Psychological Services to Military Members

Military members are immersed in an all-encompassing culture and required to make countless personal sacrifices, often experiencing trauma or other stressors that most civilians will never face. Over the past two decades, a grateful nation has provided unprecedented levels of support for the many brave servicemen and women who choose this career path. It may therefore come as a surprise to some that, despite this support, many military members remain underserved in the area of mental health. Challenges include system and access barriers; health providers’ lack of familiarity with military injuries, needs, and culture; and military members’ own stigma-related reluctance to seek treatment. This chapter provides mental health clinicians with suggestions for practice. We outline the challenges and detail the qualities necessary to work effectively with psychotherapy clients who are military members.

Gaslighting: How Pathological Labels Can Harm Psychotherapy Clients

Gaslighting is a conscious or unconscious form of psychological abuse that occurs when a perpetrator distorts information to confuse a victim, triggering the victim to doubt their memory and sanity. Gaslighting can contaminate a psychotherapy relationship when clinicians rely on pathological labels to direct the therapeutic process. When psychotherapists use pathological labels, the treatment focus is often directed toward problems that lie within the client, which can be counterproductive, particularly when the client is recovering from interpersonal abuse. This article summarizes how the application of pathological labels in combination with the principles of social constructivism influenced a group of mental health professionals to gaslight the author. Illustrative narrative that depicts the author’s experience of having been gaslit by her psychology professor and then by her psychotherapist is included. The author describes how these harmful relationships caused the author to endure double-binds and betrayal during her healing process. Last, a brief discussion about posttraumatic growth and recommendations related to potential alternatives to the current diagnostic process are offered. This article was written to raise awareness of how the use of pathological labels can result in harm to psychotherapy clients.