Attitudes of psychotherapists towards psychotherapy research

Abstract

This study examines the attitudes displayed by psychotherapists and persons undergoing psychotherapeutic training towards psychotherapy research. It evaluates the importance attached to psychotherapy research, it identifies which specific research projects or studies are known, and it assesses who, according to the respondents, should conduct psychotherapy research. The results demonstrate a consistently positive attitude of respondents towards psychotherapy research. Its significance is primarily seen in such areas as “efficiency research", “enhancing outside acceptance", and “further refining of methodology". Half of those interviewed are well informed and are able to name research projects and studies devoted to psychotherapy research or pertinent literature and journals. Competence in the field of psychotherapy research is mainly associated with university departments, the Austrian Association of Psychotherapy (Österreichischer Bundesverband für Psychotherapie, ÖBVP), as well as (university) hospitals. The remarkable interest by the psychotherapeutic community in psychotherapy research is interpreted as being part of a transformation affecting the entire profession. Training increasingly includes scientific work, psychotherapy has made strides towards a greater academic focus, and there is mounting public pressure to ensure broader financing through the national health care system (“evidence-based medicine"). All of these tendencies have resulted in wider acceptance of psychotherapy research among psychotherapists.

Keywords Psychotherapy research; Psychotherapists