| Popis: |
Many psychotherapists believe that the demands of managed care, performance pressures of hiring organizations, and an increasingly complex clientele have made the practice of psychotherapy difficult and unrewarding. Yet in this same environment, some psychotherapists flourish and remain enthusiastic about their work. The purpose of this study is to learn what distinctive attributes are shared by these individuals who are “passionately committed” to the practice of psychotherapy. Modifying the definition of Dlugos (1999), passionately committed psychotherapists are defined as those who maintain an enthusiasm for their work regardless of time in the job, and for whom work produces more energy than it demands. Understanding the salient characteristics of these extraordinary individuals may have implications to practicing psychotherapists, graduate training programs, and organizations that hire psychotherapists. Fifteen psychotherapists practicing in the public mental health system in Utah were nominated by two or more of their peers as passionately committed psychotherapists. These individuals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The data from these interviews were analyzed, compared, and contrasted in a manner consistent with grounded theory research. Based on this analysis, common characteristics were identified that may distinguish “passionately committed psychotherapists” from practitioners who become disillusioned or burned out in their work. The results supported the four categories identified in Dlugos’ seminal work, as dense data supported the general themes that he identified: 1) Balance, 2) Adaptiveness/ Openness, 3) Transcendence, and 4) Intentional Learning. Additionally, strong themes within the data led to the development of two further categories: 5) Personal Fit with Role, and 6) Passion-Supporting Beliefs. Examples of the sub-themes within these general categories are: Having passions about at least one non-work activity, hunger for feedback from supervision, locating the significance of psychotherapy within communal/social responsibility, continual fascination with human development and change, will to intimacy, and equality in relationship with clients. Support for the findings comes in the form of concurrence with the Dlugos data, support from a consensual external rater activity, and most importantly, in the robustness of the data. The strengths and limitations of the study, considerations for further research, and implications to practitioners, researchers, graduate programs, and hiring organizations are discussed. |
