Current Research in Psychology and Behavioral Science
[ ISSN : 2833-0986 ]
A Systematic Review of the Impact of Personal Therapy on Therapists
1Clinical Psychologist, ImPossible Psychological Services, Singapore
2University of Derby, England
Corresponding Authors
Keywords
Abstract
Despite the high prevalence of therapists receiving personal therapy to aid in the competent delivery of psychological treatment to clients, the understanding of its impact is limited [1]. A comprehensive review by Macran & Shapiro [2] reported methodological shortcomings in earlier research literature, preventing the researchers from establishing their conclusions with certainty. This paper systematically reviewed the research literature on this topic since the work by Macran & Shapiro [2] to examine new evidence of its impact. A total of sixteen studies were identified for this review. The paper found common professional and personal benefits consistently reported across the studies, but the evidence on the effects of personal therapy on client outcomes were inconclusive. Some therapists also reported perceiving negative experiences from personal therapy. A closer examination of the studies identified in the paper indicated that they continued to possess significant weaknesses in their research methodology. The paper then proceeded to propose how the commonly reported benefits can be organized into a preliminary model that can be utilized to guide future efforts in understanding the impacts of personal therapy.