Professional Possible Selves, Anxiety, and Seniority as Determinants of Professional Satisfaction of Psychotherapists

Abstract

The authors addressed 3 major issues regarding psychotherapists' professional satisfaction: What are the determinants of psychotherapists' professional satisfaction and the role of possible selves? How are hopes and fears about the future associated with professional satisfaction? How are these effects revealed by 2 methods of measuring possible selves? Possible selves refer to individuals' images of their future in terms of what they hope to become and what they are afraid of becoming. It was assumed that individuals who are more concerned about their future will display a higher level of both hopes and fears and that hopes concerning one's professional future quite often involve fears expressed in more positive terms. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that higher professional satisfaction would be negatively correlated with anxiety and both hopes and fears regarding professional future and that this professional satisfaction will be positively associated with seniority. The data tended to support these hypotheses. The findings were discussed in terms of the role of seniority and hopes and fears about the future in the development of psychotherapists' professional satisfaction.