Developing psychoanalytic case conceptualization skills through didactic teaching: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective:

Time-limited didactic interventions have been shown to be effective in developing “generic” case conceptualization skills. The objective of this study is to test whether similar interventions can be used to develop case conceptualization skills that are “specific” to a treatment modality.

Method:

University psychology students were randomized to a target (n = 62) or a control group (n = 62). The target group received a training on psychoanalytic case conceptualization skills based on the newly-developed operators model. The control group received a training on generic case conceptualization skills based on the well-established 5 Ps model.

Results:

The students’ self-efficacy for case conceptualization significantly increased in both groups. However, students in the target group reported a significantly greater increase in psychoanalytic case conceptualization skills and in their ability to make clinical inferences. The teaching method, as well as the case conceptualization models, were acceptable to students. However, the 5 Ps model was significantly more acceptable to students than the operators model.

Conclusions:

This is the first RCT to provide evidence that psychoanalytic case conceptualization skills can be developed through didactic teaching and that they constitute a specific set of skills that are not developed by learning generic case conceptualization skills.

Keywords:

• case conceptualization
• therapist skills
• training
• didactic teaching
• psychoanalysis

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

Ethical approval was obtained on 19/01/2022 from the Ethics Committee of the Psychological Sciences Research Institute at Université catholique de Louvain (ID: Project 2022-04).

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2023.2241623.

Additional information

Funding

This work was carried out with the support of a doctoral scholarship by Fonds Spécial de la Recherche of the Université catholique de Louvain (ADi/IC/13739.2020).