Preliminary Study of the “Separation Anxiety” Phenomenon Through the Eyes of the Method of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy

The article presents the results of a preliminary study which forms part of the preparation of a dissertation titled: “Influence of parental behavior on separation anxiety in children aged 1.5 to 5 years.” This article discusses the relationship between the symptoms and problems of children manifesting separation anxiety when starting to attend kindergarten and the experiences of their parents. The preliminary study included 38 parents and their children manifesting anxiety upon separation. The study used the tools of Positive psychotherapy, which offers the opportunity to diagnose parent-child relationships and supportive intervention.

Instruments of Positive Transcultural Psychotherapy as a Model for Systemic Constellations

The article is dedicated to methodological features of constellations in the positive psychotherapy method. Models of Positive Transcultural Psychotherapy determine the structure of personal differentiation, which could be used in constellations. According to the three levels of work in positive psychotherapy (situational, notional and basic), we could discuss constellations on the three different levels. This article represents a generalization of practical experience of using the constellations on the three levels of work in positive psychotherapy in group and individual psychotherapy as well.

Healing and Spirituality: Psychotherapeutic Case

This article is an invitation to reflect on how we can handle the spiritual, existential aspects described by Nossrat Peseschkian in his method of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy. The existential aspect was analyzed during the process of therapy and used as a strong resource. According to the Role model, and related with Basic Conflict, author looks at the patient’s relationship with God. The resources offered by religion in psychotherapy can be: hope, acceptance, the meaning of life (useful in depression, death), prayer (which reduces anxiety), meditation exercises and rituals. It is determined that where the patient is facing existential problems, the resources offered by religion are indisputable

A qualitative exploration of what works for migrant adolescents in transcultural psychotherapy: perceptions of adolescents, their parents, and their therapists

Background Migrant adolescents are at a higher risk than their native-born counterparts of psychiatric disorders, and their care is a public health issue. In France, transcultural psychotherapy is a treatment provided by a group of therapists designed to meet the specific needs of these patients when usual care appears ineffective. The objective of this study was to explore the therapeutic elements at work in transcultural psychotherapy. Methods We conducted a qualitative study crossing the perspectives of adolescents receiving transcultural psychotherapy, their parents, their first-line therapist (FLT), and the transcultural therapists. The families were chosen by purposive sampling. Data were collected during semi-structured individual (for FLTs) and group (families and transcultural therapists) interviews that explored the therapeutic elements involved and effective in transcultural psychotherapy. We used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to examine the data. In all, 44 participants were questioned: three adolescents (2 girls and 1 boy, all aged 18 to 21 years) and their parents (3 mothers and 1 father), three FLTs (2 child psychiatrists and 1 psychologist), and the 34 therapists participating in the three transcultural psychotherapy groups. Results The analysis uncovered three themes: (1) the perceived effectiveness of the group’s functioning; (2) the recounting of the individual, family, and cultural history to allow for complexity and nuance; and (3) the personal investment by therapists, made possible by the group. Conclusions Our results show some therapeutic elements at work in transcultural psychotherapy that enable it to meet the particular needs of some migrant adolescents that are unmet in standard therapy. Continuing to study transcultural psychotherapy and assess its effectiveness is essential for promoting and optimizing psychiatric care for migrant adolescents.

Becoming a transcultural psychotherapist: Qualitative study of the experience of professionals in training in a transcultural psychotherapy group

Transcultural psychotherapy is an original therapeutic technique designed to respond to difficulties encountered in psychiatric treatment for migrants. Today, this psychotherapy is formalized and it is in use at numerous sites in France and internationally. An increasing number of professionals are seeking training in this method. We sought to explore the experiences of these trainees, at their entry in the group and during their training. This qualitative study used focus groups to interview trainees participating in a transcultural psychotherapy training group. The thematic analysis generated two domains of experience: the emotional and personal experience within the transcultural group, including the private feelings of the trainee-participants, their initial difficulties, and the changes in these feelings; and their perception of this specific type of care, that is, their perspectives on transcultural psychotherapy and its most original aspects. Based on the narratives of trainees in this program, we conclude that becoming a transcultural psychotherapist involves a process not only of cultural decentering but also of professional decentering. This decentering cannot be learned theoretically: it must be experienced, for a long enough time to become imbued with it and to allow oneself to modify one’s practices. After sufficient time in the group, the trainees succeed in extricating themselves, little by little, from their ethnocentric vision of psychotherapy, and come to tolerate and then integrate new ways of doing and thinking.