How psychotherapists make use of their experiences from being a client: Lessons from a collective autoethnography

ABSTRACT

First-hand experience of being a client is regarded by many psychotherapists as making an essential contribution to professional development. Although research has not established any direct influence on client outcome, arising from therapist participation in personal therapy, qualitative studies have explored how therapists transfer learning from one context to the other. A group of six therapists-researchers engaged in a collective autoethnography in which we shared narrative accounts of our own experiences as clients. Together we covered a wide set of therapies, sought for varied purposes, and from different stages in the life-course. Different areas of learning were identified: negative experiences could strengthen own convictions for acting differently; positive experiences worked as inspiration and support; being in therapy early in life represented a significant formative experience; working through complex personal issues in therapy gave the courage to identify similar conflicts in phantasies and realities of clients. The link between having been a client and working as a therapist is a subjective, reflective process of reworking figure and ground in the search for professional sensitivity.

KEYWORDS:

• Autoethnography
• client experience
• personal therapy
• reflective learning
• therapist development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The case has also been reported in another publication ().

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marit Råbu

Marit Råbu, PhD, is a psychologist and an Associate Professor at Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. She has an interest in psychotherapy research and in qualitative research methodology and the arts.

John McLeod

John McLeod, PhD, is a psychologist and Professor II at Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, and an Emeritus Professor of Counselling at the University of Abertay Dundee. He has written a long row of influential books and articles on counselling and psychotherapy, and on qualitative research methodology.

Hanne Haavind

Hanne Haavind, PhD, is a psychologist and Professor at Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. Her research interests include psychotherapy research, studies of personal relationships between men and women, and development and social participation in children and youth. She has also been engaged in the development of interpretative analyses of qualitative interview-based data.

Ida Stange Bernhardt

Ida Stange Bernhardt is a psychologist and research fellow at Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. She has an interest in psychotherapist development, and in qualitative research.

Helene Nissen-Lie

Helene Nissen-Lie, PhD, is a psychologist and Associate Professor at Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. Her research focuses on change processes in all types of psychotherapy, using mixed methods.

Christian Moltu

Christian Moltu, PhD, is a psychologist at the District General Hospital of Førde, Norway, and a professor at the Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Science. He has an interest in psychotherapy research, recovery processes and qualitative methodology.