Student Number : 8153027 -
MA (Clin) dissertation -
School of Human and Community Development -
Faculty of Humanities / The aim of this study is to investigate depression in clinical, counselling and
educational psychologists in private practice. Forty-one psychologists
completed a survey questionnaire consisting of closed and open-ended
questions. The questionnaire required no identifying details. This ensured
confidentiality, and the information gathered was subjected to both
quantitative and qualitative analyses, which forms the basis of this
dissertation.
The results confirm that psychologists do indeed suffer with depression.
However, contrary to expectation, it is not always the work of a psychologist
which creates the conditions for depression, but rather a history of depression
or a vulnerability to depression, which is sometimes stirred up by different
aspects of the work. Also, a psychologist’s personal experience of depression
often seems to be helpful during the therapeutic process, where the therapist
uses his/her subjective experience of depression, to understand and assist
clients in the management of their emotional pain. In addition, the negative
impact of depression on clinical work is explored.
In the sample, there do not appear to be many differences between clinical,
counselling and educational psychologists regarding their experiences of
depression. With hindsight, it was thought that the division of the disciplines
did not add anything meaningful to the study. The purposively drawn sample
was biased towards clinical psychologists. Also, the investigative nature of
the study made it difficult to draw conclusions which could be generalized to
the population of psychologists in South Africa.
Despite the study’s limitations, the results, when compared with existing
literature regarding depression in psychologists, revealed many similarities.
Areas of further research were identified.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/1744 |
| Date | 15 November 2006 |
| Creators | Esterhuizen, Melanie Jane |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 132813 bytes, 182160 bytes, 65588 bytes, 142225 bytes, 50837 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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