Shifts In Clinical Attention And Focus: Exploring The Boundaries Of Reverie In The Therapeutic Process
Item
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Title
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Shifts In Clinical Attention And Focus: Exploring The Boundaries Of Reverie In The Therapeutic Process
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:e3e8e4aadbb4:11227
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identifier
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11632
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Creator
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Bowen, Monique S.,
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Contributor
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Paul L. Wachtel
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Clinical psychology | countertansference uses | psychoanalytic psychology | reverie | therapist self-disclosure | unbidden experience | unconscious processes
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Abstract
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Therapists have times of greater attention and of less, and each therapist may have the experience of noticing that her attention has shifted from what the patient is saying toward those thoughts that have been stirred. This qualitative study examined psychotherapists' perspectives on shifts in clinical attention and focus in their treatment of their patients, and the ways in which their particular approach to psychotherapeutic work influence how therapists understand and negotiate these potentially complex clinical moments. The study (a) captures how senior psychotherapists view such experiences, (b) surveys the conditions under which clinicians share their responses, thoughts and processes with patients, and (c) examines how therapists negotiate what may be conflicting considerations or principles in arriving at how they handle the experience.;Participants were recruited via several training institutes and professional psychological associations, and participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview that both documented and illuminated how senior therapists across theoretical orientations understand and explore shifts in clinical focus toward their own daydreams, fantasy, and interior monologues. This qualitative research study sought to provide an evidence and reference base for research scholars and for diverse groups of psychotherapy students, training therapists, and other practicing clinicians from one corner of psychotherapeutic practice to another. Categories that emerged from the data were then grouped into four domains: (1) Therapists' descriptions of unbidden experiences. (2) How therapists understand these phenomenological shifts in theory and in practice. (3) Therapeutic uses of this particular clinical data. (4) The felt sense that helps therapists identify shifts in attention and clinical focus. Trends in participants' responses to interview questions were identified with particular attention to departures from the clinicians' own standard technical practice or that of their theoretical orientation. The use of the verbatim quotations has enriched this narrative-constructivist approach, as the clinicians' own descriptions of their own unbidden experiences has provided uncommon access to the experiences of participants in this study.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
