Therapists in training: Brief interventions to ease negative self-evaluations and improve affective well-being

Clinical and counselling psychology trainees take on many different roles throughout the course of their graduate training, including intensive course loads, research, and clinical training. Previous research has identified significant distress and psychological symptoms reported by graduate students in clinical training. Also documented are complex barriers to receiving help for their mental health concerns. The aim of the current study was to better understand the experiences of graduate therapist trainees by tracking them over time to investigate the psychological difficulties they experience, and to examine the efficacy of brief online exercises designed to combat self-criticism and induce self-compassion. 254 clinical and counselling psychology trainees were recruited from 50 graduate programs across Canada and the United States. Participants completed baseline measures assessing self-compassion, self-criticism, positive, negative, and compassionate affect, depression, anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes, fear of negative evaluation, stress, and professional self-doubt. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups, a “working with self-criticism” condition, a “loving kindness meditation” condition, or a waitlist control condition. Following the baseline measures, trainees completed the online interventions for eight weeks, then completed measures at post-test and a one-month follow-up. Results indicated that the therapist trainees experienced moderate to severe levels of distress on most psychological outcome measures at baseline. However, it was found that the two active conditions were effective in reducing self-criticism and fear of negative evaluation, while increasing compassionate affect compared to the control condition. The results support the value of self-care and reflective practices among clinical and counselling trainees. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.