Abstract
Psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapies (POP) emphasize understanding unconscious thoughts and feelings, their origins, and using relationships as a catalyst for change. While research supports POP’s efficacy and long-term benefits (Abbass et al., 2014; Shedler, 2010), little is known about how practitioners develop expertise through personal and professional experiences beyond a theoretical and anecdotal nature. This study investigates the professional and personal developmental processes of POP practitioners and how these processes reciprocally influence one another. This researcher recruited 13 middle, senior, and late senior career POP practitioners who graduated with their terminal degrees between 1990 and 2014 and are practicing in the U.S. Efforts were made to recruit practitioners across developmental stages. This researcher conducted semi-structured interviews and used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyze interview data, allowing for rich, deep examinations of the meaning that participants created out of their lived experience (Smith & Shinebourne, 2012). Five themes and 22 subthemes depicted practitioners’ change processes emerged from the interviews: (a) Deepening Clinical Presence Through Personal Experience, (b) Developing Awareness and Insight, (c) Transformation Through Relational Encounters, (d) Internalizing Theory Enriches Clinical Practice and Personal Experiences, and (e) Reflecting on Cultural Identity and Social Consciousness Promotes Humility, Empathy, and Responsibility These themes and subthemes were explained in detail with examples to illustrate participants’ developmental processes. Findings of this study may better inform future avenues for research, education and training, the field of psychoanalytic psychology, and policy regarding promoting growth among POP practitioners.