[Measuring and training of therapeutic competencies]

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychotherapy Research

Background:

• Therapeutic competencies are crucial for effective psychotherapy.
• Understanding therapist skills in managing transference, countertransference, and interpersonal dynamics is essential.
• Assessing the application of therapeutic techniques and change processes is key to improving treatment outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore therapists' competencies in handling transference and countertransference within alliance ruptures.
• To investigate therapists' general interpersonal skills, including Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) and self-assessment bias.
• To examine the competence in applying therapeutic techniques and identifying mediators of change.

Main Methods:

• Review of research on Alliance-Focused Training and subjective countertransference.
• Description of the Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) construct and its measurement via the FIS-task.
• Presentation of the Psychodynamic Intervention List and research on change mediators.

Main Results:

• Research addresses therapist competencies in managing transference/countertransference and alliance ruptures.
• Studies investigate Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS), therapist self-assessment bias, and linguistic/phonetic markers of competence.
• Methods for assessing psychodynamic interventions and change mediators are presented.

Conclusions:

• Effective therapy relies on specific therapist competencies, including managing complex relational dynamics.
• Accurate assessment of interpersonal skills and therapeutic techniques is vital for therapist development.
• Further research is needed to identify therapist characteristics linked to superior interpersonal skills and refine assessment tools.