Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Case Western Reserve University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-132).

This study examined the impact on psychotherapists who are repeatedly empathically exposed to their client’s traumatic content. Psychotherapists were asked to complete survey packets which included quantitative measures of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Vicarious Traumatization (VT), which are both theorized to be negative conditions which may develop after being exposed to other’s traumatic content. Some respondents were then interviewed, and the transcribed interviews were analyzed utilizing the qualitative technique of grounded theory. The results of this study suggested psychotherapists mediate the impact of traumatic exposure through a variety of factors, including personal characteristics, external support systems, and the use of a variety of self-care skills. These factors, along with psychotherapist’s responses to barriers interfering with accessing these factors, appear to change over time as therapists gain experience. Additionally, rather than developing negative symptoms as a result of their work, many therapists appear to develop positive outlooks, a deep respect for their client’s and human resiliency, and a sense of confidence that they can help their clients. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This research investigated basically two questions: 1. the incidence and distribution of marital distress, including the response to distress among marital therapists and 2. how therapists view their personal experience of marital distress and its perceived impact on their clinical work. A questionnaire was designed to address these issues. One thousand members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy were selected through systematic procedures and mailed a questionnaire. A response rate of 58% was achieved. In addition to the questionnaire, five in-depth interviews were conducted to more fully understand the complex phenomenology of marital therapists' own marital distress and the various ways this may be perceived to impact on their clinical work. The results begin to dispel the myth that marital therapists have "high" divorce rates. Their marriages are of longer duration (those that terminate in divorce) and male therapists, in particular, are less likely to be divorced at any given time, as compared to the survey information supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau. Female marital therapists may be more vulnerable to distress and divorce than other females in the public, but this study did not determine if those findings are just a function of being a marital therapist; the literature indicates that other factors are probably influential. Cluster analysis revealed that three stable typologies characterize this sample, which provided hierarchical levels of distress and support: low distress with low support, moderate distress with high support and high distress with moderate support. All three clusters are significantly different (p < .001 when submitted to a discriminant function analysis. A factorial analysis of variance tested the effects of 1. cluster membership, that is, levels of distress, 2. sex, 3. marital status, and 4. benefits of therapy together on therapists' clinical work. All the effects were significant (p < .001) with the exception of sex. Most importantly, impact scores overall were low, but the interviews support the assumption that any difference in the marital life of the therapist which influences his or his clinical work is a difference that matters. / Ph. D.

The literature claims that, whilst hindering normal narcissistic development, a family of origin characterised by high levels of cohesion and low levels of adaptability, promotes individual proficiency in interpersonal skills. Coupled with unconscious motivations for interpersonal need gratification, a subsequent predisposition towards a career choice in psychotherapy is likely. This study set out to test these assumptions by comparing family of origin types, levels of narcissism and career self-efficacy in postgraduate Masters psychology students, postgraduate final year law students and final year electronic engineering students currently enroled in University of Natal training programmes (N=85). Informed by the literature, this study hypothesised that trainee psychotherapists would report more extreme family of origin types, predict career self-efficacy in the direction of social occupations and display higher levels of narcissism than students in other fields of specialisation. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988), FACES III of the Circumplex Model (Olson, McCubbin, Barnes, Larsen, Muxen & Wilson, 1985) and the Career Self-Efficacy Scale (Matsui & Tsukamoto, 1991) were utilised to assess the dimensions of narcissism, family of origin and career self-efficacy respectively. This study was unable to find significant connections between family of origin, narcissism and career self-efficacy, thereby failing to provide empirical support for the literature's claims. Results have been discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications and attempts have been made to account for the general lack of significant findings. Limitations of this study's research design and recommendations for future research in this area have been offered. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.