'This Time it's Personal': A Heuristic Study of the Process of Becoming an Integrative Psychotherapist. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 Cathal O’Connor 1 2 Contents Abstract 7 Declaration 8 Copyright Statement 9 Dedication and Acknowledgements 11 Chapter 1: Introduction 12 Introduction 12 The person of the researcher: What's past is 12 prologue There is an 'I' in thesis 13 Statement of the problem 15 The structure of my research 16 What is counselling psychology? 17 Integration 18 What is psychotherapy? 20 Conclusion 21 Chapter 2: Literature Review 22 Introduction 22 Researching psychotherapy and integration 22 Personal and professional development in 24 counselling psychology training What is personal development? 25 Therapist training 27 Stages of development 34 Supervision 35 Personal development and personal therapy 37 Training in integrative psychotherapy 41 Developing an integrative theory of practice 46 Journaling for personal and professional 48 development Conclusion 57 Chapter 3: Methodology 59 Introduction 59 3 Philosophical positioning 59 Psychology and counselling psychology 60 Epistemology and the philosophy of science 60 The philosophy of scientific psychology 62 Qualitative research 63 Phenomenology 64 Research design 65 Initial engagement 69 The research question 71 Immersion 73 Incubation 76 Illumination 78 Explication 79 Creative synthesis 80 Data generation: Journaling 80 Data analysis: Thematic analysis within a heuristic 84 framework Analysing the data: Thematic analysis 92 Phase 1: Familiarising oneself with the data 95 Phase 2: Generating initial codes 96 Phase 3: Searching for themes 97 Phase 4: Reviewing themes 97 Phase 5: Defining and naming themes 98 Phase 6: Writing the report 99 Trustworthiness of the research 99 Ethical considerations 102 Confidentiality and data storage 102 Self care 103 Consent form and statement of intent 104 Conclusion 105 Chapter 4: Analysis of Data 106 Introduction 106 Themes 106 Personal development 107 4 Personal development: Trainee anxiety 107 Personal development: Procrastination and boredom 112 anxiety Professional development 117 Professional development: Making sense of 117 theoretical ambiguity Professional development: Searching for a needle of 123 truth in a postmodern haystack Professional development: Axiomatic 'truth' as a 128 means of facilitating integration Professional development: The practical application 133 of illumination Creative synthesis 139 Conclusion 148 Chapter 5: Discussion 149 Introduction 149 Answering the research questions 149 Reflecting on reflecting on reflecting 151 Journaling for professional development 153 Reliability: Does it work? 159 Wider scope of my research 161 Ethics: Is it right? 163 When should integration take place? My perspective 169 Conclusion 172 Chapter 6 Conclusion 173 Introduction 173 Implications of the research: Outcomes at a personal 173 level Implications of the research: Developing an 175 integrative axiom Implications of the research: The utility of heuristic 176 analysis of journaling for professional development Strengths of the research 177 Data generation: Quantity and quality 177 Data analysis: Reliability of interpretation 177 Limitations of the research and improvements 178 5 Future directions for research 179 Conclusion 181 References 182 Appendices 201 Appendix 1 201 Appendix 2 205 Appendix 3 206 Appendix 4 209 Appendix 5 212 Appendix 6 213 Appendix 7 214 Final word count: 58,149 6 Abstract University of Manchester; Cathal O’Connor; Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology; 'This Time it's Personal': A Heuristic Study of the Process of Becoming an Integrative Psychotherapist.(April, 2015) The aim of this research was to explore my personal experience of becoming an integrative psychotherapist using Moustakas’ theory of heuristic enquiry to facilitate thematic analysis of my own reflective journals. There is currently no agreed-upon method for trainees to go about constructing an integrative philosophy of practice or to engage in personal development. The literature is inconclusive as to what best facilitates learning in therapist trainees, and there is a paucity of empirical research on psychotherapy training. The research on the manner in which integrative therapy is taught has not developed in line with progress made in theory and practice. Personal development has been found to be useful overall, however the means of accomplishing this has not been agreed upon. Reflective writing in the form of personal journaling has been put forward as an appropriate method, for both personal and professional development. My reflective journal constituted the data in this study. The data was analysed using thematic analysis within a heuristic design framework. Therefore, I was both the participant and the researcher in the study. Themes which manifested from the analysis of the reflective journal were around personal development, ('trainee anxiety' and 'procrastination and boredom anxiety') and professional development ('making sense of theoretical ambiguity', 'searching for a needle of truth in a post-modern haystack', 'axiomatic 'truth' as a means of facilitating integration', 'the practical application of illumination'). The utility of constructing an integrative framework and a common factor or an integrative axiom to facilitate theoretically consistent integrative practice were found to be of value in terms of both practice and training. The findings are discussed in terms of my personal experience of constructing an integrative theory of practice and the contribution my heuristic investigation of reflective writing can offer to integrative psychotherapy training. Reflective writing for professional development and development of an integrative theory of practice was found to have utility in my training and was proposed as a reliable method for future trainees to utilise. It was found to be less useful and ethical in terms of personal development. Personal and professional implications are discussed. Strengths of the current research cited are its trustworthiness in terms of the quantity of data gathered and the reliability of interpretation that came from the fact that the participant was also the researcher. Limitations of the research are noted as being its potential to be seen as overly subjective. Future research directions are outlined in the form of further qualitative research looking into self-esteem and therapy outcomes and comparisons of the experiences of training with and without a reflective component. 7 DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 8 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/edialibrary/policies/intellectualpropert.pdf), 9 in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/ regulations) and in The University’s policy on presentation of Theses. 10 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents, my first, best teachers. Mom, you taught me to be compassionate just by your example and Dad, you instilled in me the thirst for knowledge, and curiosity about the world, that fuelled this project. Acknowledgements Primarily, I would like to thank Dr Clare Lennie, who reigned me in and kept me on track, but also let me go and learn and be myself. You believed that I could get this done when there was no evidence to support that belief. To Dr William West, who enthusiastically introduced me to this world. You were a constant source of inspiration. Thanks to my house-mates, you are my family in Manchester. Also, to my lifelong friends back home in Ireland. The support from all of you is so appreciated, I can't even tell you. Most of all, to my sister, Niamh, the most courageous person I know. In this, as in all areas of my life, when