Therapist self-awareness and perception of actual performance: The effects of listening to one recorded session

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Raquel
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Pires, António A. Pazo, Neto, David
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9607
• topic: Psychotherapists’s competence; Self-awareness; Self-reflectivity; Self-monitoring

Research in psychotherapy has emphasized the relevance of the therapist’s role, particularly the impact of deliberate practice and self-awareness (SA). This study aims to explore how SA is presented in the accounts of psychotherapists and assess the im-pact of attending to actual performance. Twenty cognitive be-havioral therapy psychotherapists in training were interviewed before and after listening to their session recordings. The inter-view was based on five domains of self-awareness: recognition of emotional experience, assessment of personal skills, recogni-tion of prejudices and implicit biases, and awareness of personal values. Results show that SA is frequently attained in skills iden-tification and emotional experience. Recognizing the influence of personal values and bias, and emotional regulation was less frequently identified. There were minor differences before and after listening to the recording. There is an increase of SA in identifying the therapist’s personal skills, and aspects such as our prejudices and biases are more internalized and difficult to change. This article suggests the importance of deliberate prac-tice strategies to promote SA and increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy.