Why did I change when I went to therapy? A qualitative analysis of former patients' conceptions of successful psychotherapy

Abstract

Aim: Much research has been undertaken to identify significant events and change processes in psychotherapy. Most of these studies use categories and concepts consonant with the researcher's particular theoretical affiliation. But how do patients themselves, retrospectively, give meaning to what they felt most important for their realization of change? The present study sought to identify specific experiences and reflections of former psychotherapy patients who described their previous therapy as successful. Methods: Semi-structured, qualitative, in-depth interviews with ten former psychotherapy patients, recruited through an advertisement in a local newspaper. A descriptive and hermeneutically modified phenomenological approach was used to analyse interview transcripts, technically carried out with the assistance of Nvivo 8 software. Findings: The different ways the participants gave meaning to change processes and events clustered around the following themes: (i) Being in a relationship with a wise, warm, and competent professional, (ii) Being in a relationship with continuity when suffering from feelings of inner discontinuity, (iii) Having assumptions and beliefs about oneself and one's relational world corrected, (iv) Creating new meaning and seeing new connections in one's life patterns. Discussion: Relates current findings to those of previous studies and addresses strengths and limitations of the study, including reflections on the possible influence of the researchers' theoretical and professional background. Replications of the study are proposed, with researchers of other theoretical affiliations, and with different groups of former patients.

Keywords:

• Psychotherapeutic change
• qualitative research
• patient perspectives
• phenomenology
• hermeneutics