Research matters to our profession, and it seems that it also matters to readers of Therapy Today – ‘research updates’ was a popular answer to the ‘What would you like to see more of?’ question in our recent survey. So I am delighted to introduce our new section, ‘Research digest’, compiled by Senior Research Fellow George Salaminios.
Research is relevant for every practitioner, he says, generating new knowledge to support high-quality standards of practice: ‘In addition, research is hugely important for the wider profession as it can demonstrate the effectiveness of counselling and psychotherapy to support the commissioning of services for those who need them and increase access to effective therapies.’
For me, among the highlights of the new section are the ‘research bites’ that sum up some of the papers in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, the peer-reviewed journal available free for all BACP members (via the website). If you hadn’t realised or had forgotten that this came as part of your membership fee, I highly recommend a regular visit and browse.
It’s validating for all of us to have a growing evidence base for what we do, but there are still gaps to fill, as I discovered when I started working on our ‘Big issue’ report for this edition, on the growth of ‘flexible’ approaches to therapy session frequency/duration.
The idea for the piece came out of several conversations with fellow practitioners where we admitted that the bulk of our clients were fortnightly. Despite this working well both therapeutically and practically for clients and also practitioners, it seems there is still a sense of therapy not being ‘proper’ unless it takes place in weekly 50-minute sessions.
But there is no evidence that this ‘dose’ of therapy is any more effective than any other. When I looked into the research, it seems that the quality of the relationship matters more than the number of minutes spent in the therapy room (perhaps no surprises there), but what can make a difference to client outcomes is giving them autonomy over when and how often they have their sessions. It was interesting to explore how this might work in practice, and also think about the possible downsides for both clients (not great for those with avoidant tendencies) and us as practitioners (not least the increased uncertainty about income). I would love to hear your feedback on that report and also about your experiences of being flexible with client sessions.
Elsewhere in this issue, we have a riveting analysis of the so-called false memory wars of the 1990s by Lynda Mia Thompson, who describes therapists needing to be on their guard at the time, for fear of being accused of dredging up ‘false memories’ in clients. Don’t miss that compelling read. We’ve also got an excellent ‘Big interview’ by Catherine Jackson with business therapist and writer Naomi Shragai, who has built a career analysing the family dynamics played out in the workplace.
I’d like to thank all the contributors to this issue who have shared the benefit of their experience – if you’d also like to get involved, get in touch by emailing therapytoday@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Sally Brown, Editor
