A study of self-image experience in student psychotherapists.

Abstract

Ten psychiatric residents were videotaped while each conducted an interview with a different psychiatric patient. The resident himself was videotaped while he watched a playback of the interview and was also monitored physiologically during the playback. Before the experimental procedure and afterwards each resident completed a checklist pertaining to his characteristics as a psychotherapist. The checklist developed for this experiment is advanced as a valid and useful instrument for investigations pertaining to self-concepts of a psychotherapist. Principal component analysis yielded three clear components: “evaluative,” “activity,” and “warmth.” Self-rated change was such that after viewing the playback the residents saw themselves as “better” (p < .10), less “active” (p < .10), and “colder” (p < .02). The initial design had called for use of supervisors' predictions and of ratings of the residents' nonverbal behavior; satisfactory measures were not obtained for these variables. It had been hypothesized that magnitude of self-rated change, regardless of direction, would be correlated with indicators of physiological arousal while viewing the self. This prediction was not supported, but seeing themselves as less “active” was correlated with increased respiratory rate and in multiple linear regression analysis was associated as well with decreased respiration rate variability, decreased heart rate variability, and increased skin resistance during self-viewing. Increased heart rate while viewing self was not correlated with change in self-rating.