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Published on: March 8, 2018
Searching for recognition: the professional development of psychodynamic psychotherapists during training and the
Jan Carlsson1, Joakim Norberg, Rolf Sandell
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychotherapy, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. jan.karlsson@sll.se
Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to investigate the development of psychotherapists' professional self during training and the first few years after it. Constant comparison analysis was conducted on interviews with former students (N = 18) at a training institute for psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The resulting core category "searching for recognition" indicated that participants' ambition during the studied time period was to reach high status by becoming psychotherapists. During training, this was expressed by the category "attachment to preformed professional self," meaning that students wanted their preconceptions about therapy to be acknowledged by teachers. After training, participants experienced achieved recognition and, as a result, a sense of freedom to use their own judgment.
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