Predictors of Skill in Resistance Management in Psychotherapy

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dc.contributor.advisorWestra, Henny
dc.contributor.authorDi Bartolomeo, Alyssa Anne
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-04T15:16:17Z
dc.date.available2023-08-04T15:16:17Z
dc.date.issued2023-08-04
dc.date.updated2023-08-04T15:16:17Z
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology (Functional Area: Clinical Psychology)
dc.degree.levelMaster's
dc.degree.nameMA - Master of Arts
dc.description.abstractAppropriately responsive management of resistance in psychotherapy remains a foundational skill that is associated with positive client outcomes (Westra & Norouzian, 2018). Despite this, little is known about which individual differences contribute to successful management of resistance. Findings suggest that psychotherapy performance does not improve with experience (Goldberg et al., 2016), that psychotherapists lack humility due to positively biased self-assessment (Walfish et al., 2012), and that difficult moments in psychotherapy may dysregulate therapist emotions (Grecucci & Sanfey, 2014). This thesis therefore had two primary aims: 1) to identify whether psychotherapy training experience (n = 98 untrained participants and n = 76 trained participants) was associated with resistance management, and 2) to identify whether humility and difficulties regulating emotions in trained individuals (n = 76) were associated with resistance management (i.e., as operationalized using the Resistance Vignette Task – RVT; Westra et al., 2021). Results indicated that trained individuals performed significantly better on the RVT than untrained individuals, however, years of experience within the trained sample were not associated with RVT scores. Furthermore, humility and difficulties regulating emotions were each independently associated with resistance management in the trained group. These findings suggest the possibility of improving training to focus on key skills, such as resistance management, through supporting humility and emotion regulation in training. By identifying ways to improve therapist skill in resistance management (i.e., by introducing skill training and promoting humility and emotion regulation in therapists), client outcomes may subsequently improve.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/41362
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectClinical psychology
dc.subject.keywordsPsychotherapy
dc.subject.keywordsResistance
dc.subject.keywordsEmotion regulation
dc.subject.keywordsIntellectual humility
dc.subject.keywordsTherapy experience
dc.titlePredictors of Skill in Resistance Management in Psychotherapy
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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