Biomedical subjects

Barry A Farber

Publications and source records attributed to Barry A Farber.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Choosing psychotherapy as a career: why did we cross that road?

This article addresses the question "Why do people become psychotherapists?" via two approaches. The first involves an examination of the empirical and clinical literature on motivations and influences common to most psychotherapists. The second approach explores multiple pathways to becoming a psychotherapist by considering distinct gender-linked career trajectories. We identify 12 oft-noted themes in the literature on therapists' career paths (e.g., cultural marginalization, a psychologically minded way of understanding self and others) and link these to the narratives of the eight authors in this issue. Finally, we discuss ways in which understanding career motivations may be useful for therapists in their practice.

Career Choice↗

PubMed2005

Choosing psychotherapy as a career: beyond "I want to help people".

This article briefly considers the career determinants of mental health professionals and then introduces the contents of the Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session issue devoted to "why I became a psychotherapist." Psychotherapists are assuredly a special sort because the average person prefers to minimize the psychic sufferings of fellow humans and to avoid extensive contact with troubled individuals. Although the most frequent and conscious reason for becoming a psychotherapist is a desire to "help others," the decision is more complex and multidetermined than that. The multiple, intertwined motives are partly unconscious, impacted by chance encounters, and probably not well understood into late in one's career.

Career Choice↗

PubMed2005

Therapist self-disclosure to child patients.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate therapists' use of self-disclosure with their child patients. A sample of 126 mental health professionals with an average of 20 years of clinical experience completed the Therapist-to-Child Disclosure Inventory (TCDI), a 42-item Likert-type measure created for this study. Therapist self-disclosure was examined using three principle dimensions: the mean frequency of specific disclosures, the degree to which child patients solicit these disclosures, and the extent to which specific self-disclosures are seen as advancing treatment aims for child patients. Results indicate that therapists reveal personal information to their child patients infrequently, that children almost never solicit personal disclosures from their therapists, and that therapists perceive self-disclosure as seldom advancing treatment aims for child therapy. Future studies, the authors suggest, should examine the differences between therapists' use of self-involving disclosures to children and their use of factual self-disclosures.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

The relationship of adult attachment constructs to object relational patterns of representing self and others.

This study examined the relation between attachment constructs assessed by self-report and object relations constructs assessed from narratives. Young adult participants (N = 65; median age 28) completed the Reciprocal Attachment Questionnaire (West, Sheldon, &Reiffer, 1987), provided a set of interpersonal narratives rated using the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS; Westen, Barends, Leigh, Mendel, &Silbert, 1994), and completed other relationship-related measures. Results suggest some conceptual convergence between internal working models and representations of self, others, and relationships; for example, individuals who perceive significant others as offering a secure base for emotional connection tend to have complex, well-differentiated representations of self and others. In addition, multiple dimensions of object relationships were found to be significantly associated with participants' relationship status (current involvement in a significant relationship) and their parents' marital status.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Willingness to seek help for psychosocial problems among Latino and white American college students.

This study compared 50 Latino and 50 White American students' perceptions of the severity of 25 psychological problems, their willingness to seek help for these problems, and their preferences for caregivers. Each group received a modified version of the Personal Problems Inventory. Latino students rated depression, financial concerns, and discrimination as more severe problems; their preference for mental health workers consistently significantly exceeded those of White students, although both groups preferred seeking help from family and community resources. Findings suggest the possibility of a greater role for therapists serving Latino students than currently exists.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Self-disclosure in psychotherapy practice and supervision: an introduction.

Disclosure in psychotherapy may be considered from multiple perspectives: therapist to patient, patient to therapist, trainee to supervisor, and supervisor to trainee. Individuals in each of these roles must decide if, when, and how they should articulate certain thoughts or feelings to their therapeutic counterpart. Multicultural considerations may well influence these decisions. The articles in this issue, including two that are research reviews, question the value and parameters of self-disclosure in each of these contexts; they speak to the inevitable tension within psychotherapeutic dyads between the demands of open and honest disclosures and the equally potent countervailing forces of shame, tact, and appropriateness.

Cultural Diversity↗

PubMed2003

Patient self-disclosure: a review of the research.

Research shows that whereas most patients disclose deeply personal experiences in therapy, a significant proportion conceal some significant information. Findings also indicate that there are several categories of nondisclosed information (secrets, things left unsaid, and client reactions); that patients tend to withhold immediately experienced negative reactions; that disliked characteristics of oneself and parents are among the most thoroughly discussed issues in therapy while sex, aggression, and personal failure are least discussed; that men and women disclose to the same extent and on similar topics; that shame inhibits disclosure of negative affect; that a strong therapeutic alliance, overall tendency to be disclosing, and time in therapy facilitate disclosure; and that the discrepancy between disclosure and patients' ratings of salience of disclosure is a more powerful predictor of outcome than disclosure alone.

Female↗

PubMed2003

Representations of therapists by patients with personality disorders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate attributes of mental representations of therapists by patients with specific personality disorders (PDs), schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), and obsessive-compulsive (OCPD), and a comparison group with Major Depressive Disorder and no PD (MDD). The Therapist Representation Inventory-II (TRI) measured characteristics of participants' extra-session thoughts about their therapists. Results showed that patients with STPD had the highest level of mental involvement with therapy outside the session, missing their therapists and wishing for friendship, while also feeling aggressive or negative. Patients with BPD exhibited the most difficulty in creating a benign image of the therapist. Variables such as gender, co-occurring Axis I disorders, and amount of individual psychotherapy received were significant covariates for a number of analyses. The importance of understanding the internal dynamics of patients' thoughts about their treatment relationship was underscored.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Disclosure to therapists: what is and is not discussed in psychotherapy.

This study used the 80-item Disclosure to Therapist Inventory-R to investigate the nature of patient disclosure within therapy. Participants (45 men, 102 women) were all currently in therapy. A Principal Components Analyses with varimax rotation yielded nine meaningful factors; mean disclosure scores were lowest for the factors of Sexuality and Procreation and highest for the factors of Negative Affect and Intimacy. Specific items most extensively discussed included characteristics of parents that are disliked, and aspects of one's personality that are disliked or worrisome. No significant differences were found in overall degree of disclosure as a function of patient gender or shame-proneness; disclosure was, however, found to be positively correlated with strength of the therapeutic alliance.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Psychotherapists' representations of their patients.

Using a new measure, the Patient Representation Inventory (PRI), this study investigated the nature of psychotherapists' working clinical models of their patients. The data provided by 73 therapists suggest that, regardless of experience level or theoretical orientation (cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic), therapists tend to evoke such representations by accessing the words spoken during sessions and by recreating visual images of their patients' nonverbal contributions to the therapeutic dialogue. These representations tend to be in the service of more deeply understanding patients; their affective tone is suggestive of empathy, authenticity, and involvement. More-experienced therapists tend to evoke representations that rely largely on bodily sensations and the emotional atmosphere reflective of clinical interactions. Apparently, similarities and differences among therapists can be studied not only at the manifest level of clinical work, but at the representational level as well.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Gender differences in defensive style.

This study examines gender differences in defensive style across the domains of work and intimate relationships. Participants (47 women and 38 men) completed two versions (work-related; interpersonally related) of Bond's (1983) Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ). Results showed that, while all participants use primarily mature defenses, they are significantly more likely to use immature defenses in love than at work; men are also significantly more likely than women to use immature defenses at work. In addition, women report significantly more use of intermediate defenses than men at work, while men report significantly more use of intermediate defenses than women in love. Results are discussed in light of Chodorow's (1978) theory of gender differences in development.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Sex differences in the relationship between interpersonal problems and defensive style.

Horowitz, et al.'s Inventory of Interpersonal Problems and Bond, et al.'s Defensive Style Questionnaire were completed by 42 women and 35 men. Significant correlations emerged between most interpersonal problems and the tendency for both men and women to use immature and intermediate defense mechanisms in both work and intimate relationships. However, women were more likely than men to employ immature defenses when dealing with issues of "control" in intimate relationships while men were more likely to employ intermediate defenses in response to problems with "intimacy" in work relationships. Data support further inquiry into sex differences in interpersonal problems and defensive style.

Adult↗