I introduce you my therapist! A description of the person by his/her patients

Journal title TERAPIA FAMILIARE
Author/s Claudio Fratesi, Elisa Zamagni
Publishing Year 2020 Issue 2020/122
Language Italian Pages 24 P. 45-68 File size 194 KB
DOI 10.3280/TF2020-122004
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The therapeutic process comes to life only when it filters through the person of the therapist. This specific process takes a shape by way of the convictions, the states of mind, the history and the system of values of the therapist. What are the aspects inherent to the person of the therapist who are evaluated as most important in the course of psychotherapy? Can our patients help us better understand these aspects? To answer these questions, we conducted a research with the aim of investigate which aspects of the therapist’s person emerge in a more incisive way in a group of patients who have completed an individual, couple or family therapy training. To this aim, a questionnaire of 36 multi-choice items was constructed, which was self-submitted to a group of patients who had completed a psychotherapeutic training. The adjectives presented concerned aspects of the therapist’s person divided into 6 axes: temperament, communication, respect, competence, warmth, authenticity. Half of the items were adjectives with positive connotations (self-assured, welcoming), and the remaining half with negative connotations (rigid, authoritarian). Patients who found therapy useful outlined very specific aspects of the therapist’s person. These aspects seem to be more concerned with the axis of temperament, the one that has more to do with the person of the therapist. These traits could be the basis for the emotional involvement of the patient and therefore of the therapeutic relationship itself.

Keywords: Person, therapist, therapy training, relation, psycotherapy.

  1. Ackerman N.W. (1958). The Psychodynamics of family life. New York: Basic Books.
  2. Andolfi M., Angelo C., D’Atena P. (2001). La terapia narrata dalle famiglie. Una prospettiva di ricerca intergenerazionale. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  3. Balint M. (1961). Medico, paziente e malattia. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  4. Bateson G. (1976). Verso un’ecologia della mente. Milano: Adelphi.
  5. Blow A.J., Sprankle D.H. (2001). Common factors across theories of marriage and family therapy: A modified Delphi study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27: 385-401.
  6. Bogliolo C. (2001). Psicoterapia Relazionale della Famiglia. Teorie, tecniche, emozioni nel modello consenziente. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  7. Bogliolo C. (2008). Manuale di psicoterapia della famiglia. Tradizione ed evoluzioni della relazione terapeutica. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  8. Bogliolo C. (2012). Fare ed essere terapeuta. Dubbi e domande nella conduzione della psicoterapia relazionale. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  9. Bogliolo C., Bacherini A.M. (1989). L’esperienza clinica con l’anoressia: l’approccio consenziente. Etruria medica, IV, 43.
  10. Canevaro A. (2009). Quando volano i cormorani. Roma: Borla.
  11. Canevaro A., Ackermans A. (2013). La nascita di un terapeuta sistemico. Roma: Borla.
  12. Ceruti M. (1985). La Hybris dell’onniscienza e la sfida della complessità. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  13. Cionini L. (2013). La psicoterapia cognitiva-costruttivista. In: Cionini L. (a cura di), Modelli di psicoterapia. Roma: Carocci, pp. 133-213.
  14. Cirillo S., Selvini M., Sorrentino A.M. (2016). Entrare in terapia. Le sette porte della terapia sistemica. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  15. Cohen J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences. London: Routledge.
  16. de Bernart R. (1989). Tecniche relazionali con la famiglia e l’individuo. Terapia Familiare, 31: 85-92.
  17. Di Matteo M.R., Sherbourne C.D., Hays R.D. et. al. (1993). Physicians’ characteristics influence patients’ adherence to medical treatment. Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 12: 93-102. DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.12.2.9
  18. Elkaim M. (1992). Se mi ami non amarmi. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  19. Fruggeri L. (1992). Le emozioni del terapista. Psicobiettivo, 3: 23-24.
  20. Gabbard G.O. (2015). Psichiatria psicodinamica. Quinta edizione basata sul DSM-5®. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  21. Kim S.S., Kaplowitz S., Johnston M.V. (2004). The effects of physician empathy on patient satisfaction and compliance. Evaluation and the Health professions, 27: 237-251. DOI: 10.1177/016327870426703
  22. Loriedo C., Picardi A. (2000). Dalla teoria generale dei sistemi alla teoria dell’attaccamento. Percorsi e modelli della psicoterapia sistemico-relazionale. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  23. Losso R. (2000). Psicoanalisi della famiglia. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  24. Madonna G. (2014). La psicoterapia attraverso Bateson. Verso un’estetica della cura. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  25. Manfrida G., Albertini V. (2015). Il coraggio uno non se lo può dare... oppure sì? Indagine sul coraggio nella pratica psicoterapeutica. Terapia Familiare, 107: 39-57. DOI: 10.3280/TF2015-107003
  26. Maturana H., Varela F. (1987a). Autopoiesi e Cognizione. Venezia: Marsilio.
  27. Meini C., Ruggiero G. (2017). Il pentagramma relazionale. Le forme vitali nella psicoterapia familiare e di coppia. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  28. Norcross J.C., Beutler L.E., Levant R.F. (2005). Evidence-based Practices in Mental Health: Debate and Dialogue on the Fundamental Questions. Washington: American Psychological Association.
  29. Onnis L. (1996). Emozioni e relazione terapeutica. In: Andolfi M., Angelo C., De Nichilo M. (a cura di), Sentimenti e sistemi. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  30. Onnis L., Galluzzo, W. (1990). La relazione terapeutica in un’ottica sistemica. Psicobiettivo, 10(1): 37-48.
  31. Rakel D.P., Hoeft T.J., Barrett B.P., Chewning B.A., Craig B.M., Niu M. (2009). Practitioner empathy and the duration of the common cold. Fam. Med., 41: 494-501.
  32. Safran J.D., Muran J.C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A Relation treatment guide. New York: Guilford (trad it. in: Teoria e Pratica dell’alleanza terapeutica. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2003).
  33. Schore A.N. (1997). A century after Freud’s project: is a rapprochement between psychoanalysis and neurobiology at hand? Journal of American Psychoanalytical Association, 45: 807-840.
  34. Squier R.W. (1990). A model of emphatic understanding and adherence to treatment regimens in practitioner-patient relationships. Social Science and Medicine, 30: 325-339.
  35. Stern D. (2004). The present moment in psychotherapy and everyday life. New York: Norton (trad. it. in: Il momento presente. Milano: Raffaello Cortina, 2005).
  36. Tschacher W., Junghan U.M., Pfammatter M. (2014). Towards a taxonomy of common factors in psychotherapy-results of an expert survey. Clinical Psyhology and Psychoterapy, 21(1): 82-96.
  37. Vito A. (2005). L’identità del terapeuta. Vademecum per scoraggiare le giovani generazioni. Ecologia della Mente, 27, 1.
  38. Vito A. (2012). Affetti speciali. Uno psicologo (si) racconta. Chieti: Edizioni Psiconline.
  39. Von Foerster H. (1987). Sistemi che osservano. A cura di Ceruti M. e Telfener U. Roma: Astrolabio.
  40. Wampold B.E. (2001). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Models, Methods, and Findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
  41. Wampold B.E. (2006). What should be validated? The Psychotherapist. In: Nocross J.C., Beutler L.E., Levant R.F. (eds.), Evidenced-based practices in mental health: Debate and dialogue on the fundamental questions. Washington: American Psychological Association.
  42. Wampold B.E. (2007). Psychotherapy: The humanistic (and affective) treatment. American Psychologist, 62: 857-873. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.8.85
  43. Wampold B.E. (2010). The basic of Psychotherapy. An introduction to the theory and practice. Washington: American Psychological Association.
  44. Wampold B.E., Budge S.L. (2012). The 2011 Leona Tyler Award address: The relationship – and its relationship to the common and specific factors of psychotherapy. The Counseling Psychologist, 40: 601-623. DOI: 10.1177/001100001143270
  45. Westen D., Gabbard G.O. (2002). Developments in cognitive neurosciences, II: implications for theories of transference. Journal of American Psychoanalytical Association, 50: 99-134. DOI: 10.1177/0003065102050001160

Claudio Fratesi, Elisa Zamagni, Vi presento il mio terapeuta! La persona del terapeuta descritta dai suoi pazienti in "TERAPIA FAMILIARE" 122/2020, pp 45-68, DOI: 10.3280/TF2020-122004