Mangelnde Eignung bei angehenden Psychotherapeuten

Background

Psychotherapy research has shown that some therapists have systematically more negative outcomes than their colleagues. Many attempts have been made to answer the question of whether these unsuccessful therapists have specific features but as yet no consensus has been reached. Particularly in the field of psychotherapy training this issue has rarely been discussed.

Aims

This study focused on the following questions: how many trainees are incompetent, what characteristics do they have and how to deal with them? How are trainees selected?

Material and methods

In a research expertise on psychotherapy training for the German Ministry of Health, directors of training institutions were interviewed and 129 responses were analyzed using, for example content analysis.

Results

A total of 4–5?% of trainees were judged as being not sufficiently competent to become a psychotherapist. Relevant criteria were mainly the lack of personal and interpersonal competencies.

Conclusions

Future psychotherapy training should focus more and earlier on recognizing and intervening regarding incompetence in the given areas.