The role of cultural beliefs and expectations in the treatment process: clients’ reflections following individual psychotherapy

Abstract

Qualitative data acquired within the recent Czech part of the independent, multi-site collaborative research project Corrective Experiences are the core basis of this paper. Eight post-treatment interviews with clients of individual therapies were analysed with a special focus on the role of cultural beliefs and cultural expectations in the clients’ change of interpersonal attitudes. The methodology of this research is based on in-depth interviews providing data on significant shifts or changes in attitudes toward relationships after the end of therapy. All clients completed their therapeutic treatments prior to the interviews. We monitored the experiences of our participants in the following significant domains: first, how they perceive the aspect of the self and others, including relationships that had been modified, and second, what they perceive as corrective experiences within as well as outside of therapy and in interactions with others. These data were then analysed within the Czech cultural context with the intention of understanding the dynamics of clients’ relationships and the role of cultural knowledge in the psychotherapeutic treatment.

Keywords:

• culture
• social scripts
• individual psychotherapy
• corrective experiences

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jiří Růžička, Karel Balcar and especially Václav Grepl, without their contribution to our work all of the data would have remained hidden in our clients.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The writing of this article was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [grant number GA14-35577S] and by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic [grant number TD020339].

Notes on contributors

Martin Kuška

Martin Kuška, a senior researcher at the Prague College of Psychosocial Studies, Czech Republic, and a lecturer at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Austria, is focused on interdisciplinary approaches in psychosocial sciences, the sociocultural dimensions of globalisation processes and cultural factors in psychotherapy.

Radek Trnka

Radek Trnka is a senior researcher at the Prague College of Psychosocial Studies and at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. His research interests include gender differences in social relationships, communication, social interactions, emotional life and the principles of quantum theory and chaos in psychotherapy.

Peter Tavel

Peter Tavel is an associate professor in clinical psychology at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. His theoretical work and research is focused on the meaning of life, the psychology of ageing and lenitixe relief, risk/protective factors in adolescents and the relationship between psychology, spirituality and faith.

Michael J. Constantino

Michael J. Constantino is an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States, and president of the North American Society for Psychotherapy Research. His research focuses on: (1) investigating patient, therapist and dyadic characteristics that influence psychotherapy; (2) developing and testing interventions that address pantheoretical change principles and (3) conducting effectiveness research in naturalistic settings.

Lynne Angus

Lynne Angus is a professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a past president of both the International Society for Psychotherapy Research and the North American Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. Her psychotherapy research interests have focused on understanding the contributions of narrative and emotion processes for efficacious treatments of depression.

Kathrin Moertl

Kathrin Moertl is a research coordinator and head of the Institute for Qualitative Psychotherapy Research at Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Austria. She is interested in how protagonists in different clinical psychotherapy settings experience and evaluate mechanisms of change. Her methodological applications include explicit content analysis as well as implicit structural research strategies.