Comparison of Mental Health Professionals in terms of Locus of Control, 5-Factor Personality Test, Defense Styles and Coping Styles According to the Psychotherapy School They Feel They Have in Practice

Abstract

Personality plays an active role in all our behaviors, choices, beliefs and mechanisms to protect ourselves. It seems possible that there is an interaction between the career choices of mental health professionals, who are a professional group working on the structure and dynamics of personality, and their personality structures. Mental health professionals continue to work with many different schools. These are predominantly psychodynamic school and psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy, gestalt school and eclectically a combination of these and other schools. The aim of this research is to reveal the differences of professionals working in the field of mental health according to the psychotherapy school they choose, according to locus of control, five-factor personality scale, defense strategies and coping styles. The schools preferred by mental health professionals were examined in 3 different groups as "Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic Therapy", "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" and "Eclectic Approach". 90 people, including 21 psychiatrists, 29 psychological counselors and 40 psychologists, from the province of Istanbul participated in the research. In the evaluation of personality traits, four different scales were used: "Locus of Control Scale", "Five-Factor Personality Scale", "Defense Strategies Scale" and "Coping Styles". According to the results obtained from the research, it was seen that there was no significant difference between the schools chosen by the mental health experts in the direction of the research and the personality structures. However, it indicates that the neuroticism sub-dimension score has decreased over the years. Finally, a significant difference was found between individuals who adopted the CBT school and the sub-dimension of responsibility. Key Words: Locus of Control, Personality, Defense Mechanisms, Coping Strategies