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Understanding Psychotherapists' Experience of Ongoing Learning

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Understanding Psychotherapists' Experience of Ongoing Learning Understanding Psychotherapists’ Experience of Ongoing Learning A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study Kerry L. Thomas-Anttila A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2017 Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences Auckland University of Technology New Zealand Primary Supervisor: Professor Elizabeth Smythe Second Supervisor: Dr Deborah Spence i Abstract This study explores the phenomenon of psychotherapists’ experience of ongoing learning. Psychotherapy has a clinical case-based history and, therefore, a knowledge base that is founded on clinical work. Amongst psychotherapists themselves there is a tacit understanding that the ongoing learning of psychotherapy goes hand-in-hand with the practising of psychotherapy, including thinking about the work. This latter can often take the form of reading about, writing about, or discussing clinical case reports or studies. Such forms of learning are, however, regarded poorly in the mainstream research arena. Where does this place psychotherapists themselves? Is something amiss with how therapists are educated and continue to learn? This is the basis of a very lively debate in psychotherapy literature and the impetus for my exploring this phenomenon by way of speaking with psychotherapists about their own experiences of ongoing learning. The 12 participants were purposefully selected for their willingness to participate and their ability to articulate their learning experiences. Participants’ narratives were captured via audio-taped interviewing and “stories” of learning emerged. I have offered an interpretation of the therapists’ narratives, within the ontological framework of hermeneutic phenomenology and drawing from the writings of Heidegger [1889-1976], Gadamer [1900-2002], and Arendt [1906-1975]. The findings of this study reveal the ways in which psychotherapists increasingly move towards that which is essential for their own learning; what matters to the individual therapist begins to emerge over time and to show itself more fully. This arises from the interconnectedness between participants’ individual life histories and their vocational lives as psychotherapists. Emphasis is placed on authenticity in life and work. Learning is revealed as an internal movement which includes care for oneself and noticing that which is essential for one’s own development. Prescriptive approaches to specific activities of learning are not indicated, rather the learner’s engagement with activities that are meaningful for them. Interpretation of the participants’ stories highlighted that there are ways of being that facilitate therapists’ ongoing learning. These include an openness of being; meditative thinking, dreaming and reverie; caring for one’s own soul; learning to respond; resisting the allure of overly engaging with our rational minds; an awareness of our being-in-the-world as an interplay between the inseparable states of being with oneself, being alongside things, and being with others; and staying open to the mystery and the unknown. ii Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i Attestation of Authorship ................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Research ............................................................................................... 1 Impetus for this Study ................................................................................................... 1 What is Psychotherapy and What is a Psychotherapist? .............................................. 3 Use of the Terms Patient, Analysand, and Client in this Study ..................................... 7 Personal Pre-understandings as a Psychotherapist and Educator ............................... 7 Pre-understandings Interview ....................................................................................... 9 A Note on Prejudice .................................................................................................... 14 Summary of My Pre-Understandings .......................................................................... 15 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................. 17 Psychotherapy in the Context of Aotearoa New Zealand ........................................... 17 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 25 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................ 25 Chapter 2: What is Learning? .......................................................................................... 27 Learning: A Beginning Definition................................................................................. 28 Learning Theories and Models .................................................................................... 29 Vygotsky: A Sociocultural Theory of Learning............................................................. 30 Pedagogy and Andragogy ............................................................................................ 32 Practice-Based Learning/Learning from Experience ................................................... 34 Heidegger and Learning .............................................................................................. 39 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 3: Psychotherapy and Learning ......................................................................... 42 Learning from the Patient/Client ................................................................................ 42 Learning from Personal Therapy and Ongoing Self-Analysis ...................................... 45 Learning in the Supervisory Relationship and From Other Mentors .......................... 47 Learning from Reading and Undertaking Research .................................................... 49 Learning from Writing ................................................................................................. 53 Learning from Life ....................................................................................................... 55 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 4: Methodology ................................................................................................. 60 Choosing the Methodology ......................................................................................... 60 The Beginnings of Phenomenology ............................................................................. 63 Martin Heidegger: The Question of the Meaning of “Being” (Seiend/Sein) .............. 66 Heidegger and the Meaning of Phenomenology ........................................................ 67 Heidegger and Hermeneutic Phenomenology ............................................................ 68 iii Psychoanalysis and Hermeneutic Phenomenology .................................................... 70 Heideggerian Notions .................................................................................................. 79 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 5: Heidegger and National Socialism ................................................................ 87 National Socialism in Germany after World War 1 ..................................................... 87 Heidegger’s Term as Rector at Freiberg University .................................................... 88 Heidegger’s Turn (“Kehre”) and his Turning Away from National Socialism .............. 91 Contemporary Dilemmas and Reflections .................................................................. 92 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 95 Chapter 6: Methods ........................................................................................................ 96 Beginning of Research ................................................................................................. 96 Ethics ........................................................................................................................... 97 Choosing and Recruiting Participants ......................................................................... 99 Who are the Participants? ........................................................................................ 100 Interviewing .............................................................................................................. 102 Being a Researcher and a Psychotherapist: Differences in Interviewing ................. 104 Transcripts ................................................................................................................. 106 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................
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