A qualitative exploration of psychoanalytic child psychotherapists’ perspectives on the links between personal analysis during training and professional development

Abstract

ABSTRACT Personal analysis is a central requirement for the training of UK child and adolescent psychotherapists and is part-funded by the National Health Service in the UK. Empirical research on the significance of analysis for the professional development of child psychotherapists is virtually non-existent. Some empirical literature supports the importance of personal psychotherapy for the training of adult psychotherapists, but the differences between adult and child psychotherapy make the findings of this literature tenuous and difficult to apply directly to the child psychotherapy training. This study aims to explore this issue by studying qualified child psychotherapists’ views on the role that personal analysis has played in their professional development, with a particular focus on the ways in which it affects the relationships they form with their patients. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six UK-based child and adolescent psychotherapists, focusing on their views about the role of personal analysis in their professional development during training and post-qualification. These interviews were audio-recorded and analysed using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis of the interview material points to three main themes: the holistic experience of being a patient; the supportive aspect of analysis during training; and factors associated with the impact of the analysis being part of the training. In brief, it appears that personal analysis during training enabled the participants to learn things they would not have been able to learn in any other way; however, the close links between the training schools and the analysts were seen as a more controversial topic.