The interaction between good life conceptions and psychotherapeutic practice - an interpretative phenomenological study of psychologists' experiences

Based on qualitative interviews with four Danish psychologists and employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this study explored psychologists' understandings about the good life and how these influence the participants' clinical practice. The study found that the participants were quite aware of how their conceptions of the good life play a role in their work. Good life understandings that influenced therapeutic practice were quite similar amongst participants and were largely characterized by traits often associated with good mental health. Themes identified were: "Everyday well-being," "presence", and "taking care of oneself and others," and subthemes were "contact with the self," "awareness of the good things in life," "connectedness," "to mean something to others," "coping with distress," and "compassion for oneself and others." Among participants, these good life conceptions had a similar influence on different areas of their practice in terms of how the participants understand their clients' issues, which impacted what they talk to their clients about, and what they seek to achieve with the clients in therapy. Therefore, the good life conceptions influenced the methods, techniques, personal behaviors, and therapeutic approaches used to provide good and effective therapy. Another finding was that participants' clinical experiences also seemed to impact their good life conceptions. The interpretation of the participants' experiences represented a hermeneutic model suggesting that the participants' good life conceptions and their clinical practice experiences might inform and reinforce each other in a continuously expanding overlap. The actual nature of this interaction and its implications are relevant for future research.

Ethical Considerations for Treating the Old Order Amish

The Old Order Amish are the fastest growing religious subpopulation in the United States. The Amish population, most recently estimated at 340,000, is expected to double in size during the next 20 years. While still relatively few in number, their growing population and increasing interaction with American society will likely result in more Amish individuals seeking mental health treatment. Despite the call for culturally competent mental health professionals, this population has been underrepresented in the psychotherapy literature. To the best of the author's knowledge, this article is the first known attempt to review the ethical considerations that may arise when working with members of the Old Order Amish. This article uses the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct to frame the discussion of ethical mental health treatment with Amish individuals.

Ethical considerations for addressing distorted beliefs in psychotherapy

With rising rates of misinformation, psychotherapists are likely to encounter clients with distorted beliefs that are scientifically unsound. In situations where these beliefs are harmful (e.g., vaccination refusal, misunderstanding of sexual consent), psychotherapists may face an ethical dilemma regarding how to proceed with psychotherapy. This is especially true if such beliefs are impairing treatment progress or resulting in safety concerns for the client or society. Questions about whether and how the psychotherapist should address these distorted beliefs are therefore likely to arise. In such cases, psychotherapists are tasked with respecting the client's autonomy, while simultaneously being of maximum benefit to the client and to society at large. Not all distorted beliefs warrant therapeutic intervention, but this judgment requires careful consideration. The current article addresses the relevant ethical considerations for navigating and addressing distorted beliefs in psychotherapy. A vignette is offered, and relevant sections of the American Psychological Association's Ethics Code are discussed, both as they pertain to this scenario and as they apply more generally to the practice of psychotherapy. The article concludes with questions for psychotherapists to consider and recommendations for how to proceed when confronted with harmful distorted beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Is and Ought: Descriptive and Prescriptive Cognitions in Military-Related Moral Injury

Debate exists regarding the most appropriate way to address moral injuries that stem from involvement in war and other military conflicts. In recent years, some researchers have suggested that existing treatments for trauma may be inadequate to address moral injury and have thus proposed novel interventions to help mitigate these concerns. In response, advocates of more traditional approaches have argued that standard trauma interventions are generally sufficient for moral injury, and investment in new interventions may be premature. This conceptual article draws from research findings and current theories of moral injury to demonstrate that there is merit on both sides of this debate, and further clarifying the types of cognitions involved in moral injury can guide effective treatment planning. In particular, the most recent diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder is used to distinguish the objectively falsifiable descriptive cognitions often associated with trauma from the subjectively determined prescriptive cognitions that characterize moral injury. Scenarios from war zone deployments have been used to highlight the relevance of this distinction for moral injury, and a general treatment framework that shows how existing and novel interventions may complement one another is presented. Research suggestions for assessing descriptive and prescriptive cognitions in moral injury and empirically validating this treatment framework are discussed.

Therapieziele in der ambulanten kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutischen oder psychodynamischen Psychotherapie – notwendig oder irrelevant?

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Mit dem Berner Inventar zur Erfassung von Therapiezielen (BIT-T) werden mögliche Unterschiede im Umfang und inhaltlichen Schwerpunkt der Zielsetzung kognitiv-behavioraler (KVT) und psychodynamischer Therapien (PDT) untersucht. Fragestellung: Neben der Reliabilität des BIT-T sollen Patienten, KVT- und PDT-Therapeuten hinsichtlich Unterschieden in ihren Therapiezielen untersucht werden. Eine mögliche Vorhersage des Therapieerfolges durch den BIT-T ist von weiterem Interesse. Methode: Die Therapieziele von 472 Patienten und aus 283 ambulanten Therapieanträgen auf KVT und 189 Anträgen auf PDT wurden mit Hilfe des BIT-T kategorisiert. Die Therapieeffektivität wurde mittels des Fragebogens zur Evaluation von Psychotherapieverläufen (FEP) bestimmt. Ergebnisse: Die Beobachterübereinstimmung des BIT-T erweist sich als überwiegend gut bis sehr gut. Bedeutsame Übereinstimmungen zwischen Therapeuten und Patientenzielen können nicht festgestellt werden. KVT- und PDT-Therapien unterscheiden sich in ihren angestrebten Zielen. Problem- und symptombezogene Ziele der Therapeuten sind mit dem Erfolg der Therapie assoziiert. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Beachtung von Therapiezielen erweist sich als bedeutsamer Faktor für Therapiequalität und -erfolg.