The conceptual and reflective skills of analytic therapists : empirical and theoretical studies on clinical reasoning
(2024)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Willemsen, Jochem
- Abstract
- There is a natural curiosity, both on the part of patients and in popular culture at large, about what goes on in the mind of analytic therapists. Their minimal facial expressions, coupled with their proverbial reserve, only make the mystery more intriguing. Particularly when an analytic therapist pulls out of their hat an interpretation that succeeds in clarifying things for us, we would be tempted to ask them: “How did you arrive at that?”. It will surprise the layperson as much as the researcher how little attention analytic therapists themselves have devoted to this question. While endless libraries exist about psychoanalytic theory and technique, very little research – especially from an empirical point of view – has been conducted on what analytic therapists actually do to “discover” (or bring forth) meaning. How do they go about selecting certain elements of the clinical material over others, for instance, or link them together, or interpret them in a new way? In this thesis, we address this question from different angles. In Chapter 1, we develop a new model of psychoanalytic clinical reasoning. The model suggests that analytic therapists from different schools of thought implicitly but routinely use 12 conceptual and reflective skills, which we call the “operators.” In Chapter 2, we test the effectiveness and acceptability of the operators model as a didactic tool to develop case conceptualization skills in psychology students. In Chapter 3 and 4, we tackle some theoretical questions around the relation between operators and theory, and between operators and history. Finally, in Chapter 5, we expand our model through a consideration of the conditions under which meaning can be brought forth in analytic therapy. This implies a vision that goes beyond the therapist's reasoning process and integrates the role of other "reflective agents" (patient and supervisor). We conclude by tackling certain fundamental questions that emerge from this thesis and by drawing implications for the broader field.
- Affiliations
UCLouvain SSH/IPSY - Psychological Sciences Research Institute
Citations
Polipo, N. (2024). The conceptual and reflective skills of analytic therapists : empirical and theoretical studies on clinical reasoning. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/232552