Aims: The Second World War had a dramatic impact on the lives of those who lived through it (Davies, 1997) and its long-term impact continues for older people whose formative life experiences were affected by the process of Britain‟s wartime child evacuation scheme (Foster et al., 2003). Despite the place in the national psyche that remembrance of the World Wars holds there is very little literature or psychological research investigating the long-term effects of evacuation. There have been some previous quantitative studies using questionnaires to explore the effects of evacuation (e.g. Rusby, 2008, Foster et al., 2003, Waugh et al., 2007). There has also been one qualitative study exploring evacuees' experience of evacuation (Sturgeon-Clegg, Dpsych unpublished thesis). However, with an increasing number of former evacuees now becoming eligible for older people's services and being seen by mental health practitioners in specialist older people's services, this study is the first to ask psychologists who have worked with former evacuees about their experience of the therapy and whether they consider there is a long-term impact of evacuation. Method: Six psychologists took part in one-to-one, face-to-face interviews to investigate their experiences of working with evacuated clients whether they thought there had been a long-term impact of the evacuation on former evacuees. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2009) methodology was used to analyse the data. Each interview was analysed individually before cross analysis. Results: The research produced three prominent themes related to the way psychologists understood the therapy with former evacuees. The first theme was the different voices around evacuation in the therapy room and how these different voices (the therapist's, the former evacuee's and dominate discourses) influenced participants' understanding of the evacuation experience. The second theme around "being genuine" explored psychologists' beliefs about their role and the role of therapy for former evacuees. The third theme was an awareness of death in the therapy with former evacuees and the impact this had on the therapeutic relationship. Implications: The main implications identified were: the need for psychologists working with former evacuees to have an understanding of evacuation and knowledge of the research on the long-term impact of evacuation on former evacuees. The importance of supporting psychologists working with former evacuees around the complex task of making sense of the relationship issues in the therapeutic relationship. Finally, participants in the study stressed the importance of developing a trusting, non-judging environment to encourage psychologists to process their response to the former evacuees they worked with.

No description available.

Religion is important to many Americans and the way they approach life, but psychologists are less likely than the general population to be religious. Because of this, it is important to not only know how religious commitment can influence clients' outcome and experience in psychotherapy, but also how the level of match between client and therapist religious commitment might impact those variables. The current study was undertaken in order to investigate how client religious commitment impacts distress at the beginning and end of treatment, how therapist religious commitment impacts the use of religious/spiritual interventions in therapy, and whether the level of match between client and therapist religious commitment predicts client perception of therapy and/or outcome. Seven hundred and thirty individual therapy clients at a university counseling center completed measures of religious commitment, symptom distress, and concerns about therapy throughout their course of treatment. Forty-four therapists also completed a measure of religious commitment in addition to session-by-session checklists detailing what types of interventions they used in each appointment with participating clients. Client religious commitment was found to significantly predict lower initial distress (B = -0.77, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.07, 95% CI [-0.97, -0.57]) and lower distress at the end of therapy(B = -0.32, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.34, 95% CI [-0.51, -0.14]), and fewer concerns about therapy predicted better outcomes (B = 2.04, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.38, 95% CI [1.52, 2.52]). Contrary to the findings of previous research, therapist religious commitment did not predict use of religious/spiritual interventions in therapy (B = 0.05, p = 0.062, R2 = 0.09, 95% CI [-0.002, 0.11]). Finally, level of match between client and therapist religious commitment was not related to client concerns about therapy (B = -0.002, p = 0.161, 95% CI [-2.40, 9.57]) or client outcomes B = -0.014, p = 0.120, 95% CI [-0.03, 0.004]). Possible explanations and influencing factors are put forth and the findings are discussed in the context of a highly religious population.

Research has indicated that there are certain ingredients that make therapy successful. One of these ingredients may be the actual therapist providing the therapy. The concept of a person’s way of being appears in some literature, but the concept of therapist way of being has not been well developed and explored. The purpose of this study was to form a definition of therapist way of being, to gain an understanding of how way of being influences a client’s change in therapy, and to describe and ways of being that are beneficial and detrimental to a client’s journey of change. Data were collected from panelists, who were all licensed clinicians and all reported being at least somewhat familiar with the concept of way of being. The results of the study include a proposed definition of way of being, descriptions of ways of being that promote and deter client change, questions that might be asked of a therapist to better understand his or her way of being, potential responses to these questions that might indicate a change-promoting or change-deterring way of being, and lastly, suggestions for future research on therapist way of being.

The current study investigated preliminarily therapists’ countertransference (CT) behavior and alliance quality as a function of therapist self-insight, a central CT management factor. Eight therapist-trainees were rated by a clinical supervisor on their degree of self-insight and then assigned to a high or low self-insight group. The groups were compared on therapist CT behavior, from both therapist and supervisor perspectives, and on patient-perceived alliance quality. Effect size estimates suggested that high self-insight therapists displayed more CT behaviors than low self-insight therapists (with small to medium effects), and that patients of high self-insight therapists reported higher alliance scores (with a medium effect). These findings, albeit preliminary and requiring replication with a larger sample, support the notion that self-insight plays a role in therapists’ use of CT reactions in the service of effective therapeutic interventions.

Denna essä har som syfte att undersöka hur diagnosen klimatångest hos unga har dimensioner som kan vara svåra att möta i en klassisk vårdmiljö. Det finns frågor av etisk och existentiell natur som behöver bemötas och besvaras. Det är inte bara hos klienten som dessa uppstår utan även hos den behandlande terapeuten. Denna essä är ett försök att rikta ljuset mot några av de aspekter som en behandlande terapeut eller annan personal kan behöva ta hänsyn till i sitt praktiska handlande till vardags.   Den belyser frågor som neutralitet, objektivitet, autenticitet och medkänsla. Den andra delen av essän behandlar frågan om professionellt och personligt ansvar och resonerar kring frågor om skuld, kollektiv ansvar, utvidgat ansvar och om terapirummets offentlighet och avskildhet. / The purpose of this essay is to examine how the diagnosis of climate anxiety in young people has dimensions that can be difficult to meet in the classic healthcare environment. There are questions of an ethical and existential nature that need to be addressed and answered. This essay is an attempt to shed light on some of the aspects that a clinical therapist or other clinical professions may need to take into account in their everyday practical actions. It highlights issues such as neutrality, objectivity, authenticity and compassion. The second part of the essay deals with the question of professional and personal responsibility and reasons around issues of guilt, collective responsibility, extended responsibility and about the publicness and privacy of the therapy room.

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to study instances of sudden gains within the case load of a private practice practitioner. Five clients whose progress was marked by such changes were contrasted with the views of five clients whose progress was marked by significant setbacks. Results from the quantitative analyses indicated that clients who experienced sudden gains during therapy tended to retain their therapeutic gains over a 2-year time period. In contrast, individuals who experienced setbacks in therapy generally continued to be distressed at the 2-year reassessment. Clients who experienced sudden gains were more distressed prior to treatment and were more satisfied with their experience looking back. A stronger working alliance was found amongst those who experienced sudden gains, although there was no difference between the groups' ratings regarding the strength of the therapeutic bond. Qualitative results suggested that therapy was helpful in bringing about many changes in clients' lives, but clients who experienced sudden gains generally recalled more positive aspects of therapy, demonstrated greater utilization of therapeutic techniques, endorsed more long-term changes, accepted more responsibility for their treatment outcomes, and were less likely to react negatively to therapeutic techniques. Clients who experienced setbacks in therapy were generally less optimistic about the future, felt that they had regressed since termination, and demonstrated more resistance to therapeutic techniques.