Research digest
Therapy Today, June 2023

News and resources from the BACP research team

Charlie Duncan, Senior Research Fellow

‘I’ve been at BACP for 10 years, starting as a research intern when I was 23. I’ve always had a passion for research, which was sparked during my undergraduate psychology degree, and working at BACP has only increased that. In 2016 I was lucky enough to start studying for a part-time PhD alongside my research role, which looks at the goals that young people set for school-based counselling.’

‘More generally, the research projects I am involved in tend to focus on counselling for children and young people and the use of routine outcome measures in practice, but any area of counselling research fascinates me. I love the whole process of research, from developing a research question, choosing the most appropriate methodology, analysing the data and writing it up.’

‘Without a doubt, the best part of my job is the people. Not just the colleagues that I work with but members and other researchers in the field who I get to work with on a daily basis.’

We’ll be hearing from other members of the BACP research team in upcoming issues.

Research bites

To mark Pride Month, this issue’s papers focus on recent research in counselling and psychotherapy with LGBTQ+ clients

Counsellors’ experiences of working with LGBQ clients

Findings from interviews with heterosexual, person-centred counsellors who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) clients revealed four themes – shaping and forming, ways of seeing, witnessing clients, and relationships with person-centred theory. Shaping and forming captured the learning and development experienced through working with LGBQ clients. Ways of seeing concerned frames of reference within the context of the therapeutic relationships with their clients. Witnessing clients captured the meaning gained from working with this client group, and the final theme of relationships with person-centred theory explored how theory informs therapeutic practice, including helping the participants to overcome imposition and fear.

Read more: Peacock R. Encountering sexuality difference: the experiences of person-centered counselors and psychotherapists who self-describe as heterosexual and have worked with lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer clients.

Therapy with older LGBTQ+ people of colour

Relational cultural theory (RCT) is explored in this paper as a relevant theoretical framework for counselling older LGBTQ+ adults of colour. An RCT approach addresses needs, social conditions, barriers and marginalisation experiences for older LGBTQ+ adults of colour. The relational focus on mutually fostering growth and dismantling oppression highlights both contextual and systemic factors contributing to deepened levels of disconnection for older LGBTQ+ adults of colour. RCT serves as a strength-based framework to employ in a clinical setting. As counselling practitioners continue to broaden their perspectives, implementing an RCT approach can bring forth new forms of critical thinking to emphasise interpersonal and contextual factors contributing to relational growth, equity and connection.

Read more: Chan CD et al. Counseling older LGBTQ+ adults of color: relational-cultural theory in practice.

Gay men’s experience of unhelpful therapy

This study explores through interviews how unhelpful incidents in talking therapies are experienced by gay men in relation to their sexual orientation. Unhelpful experiences of gay men created a sense of disconnection from their therapists, following a therapeutic experience that they felt did not acknowledge or embrace their gay identity. These experiences impacted their lives outside therapy and had a significant and lasting effect, although all participants described a sense of managing to move on to some extent. This research emphasises the harm that prejudice and discrimination in talking therapy can cause, whether intentional or not.

Read more: Televantos M and Maise Strauss S. ‘I wasn’t feeling like I belonged in my skin’: How self-identified gay men in the UK experience unhelpful incidents in talking therapy.

BACP researchers are currently involved in a collaborative project looking at the existing literature on the needs of parents and carers of children and young people with mental health difficulties. We’re hoping that this research will identify where the gaps are in our understanding of where parents and carers require support, and future stages of the project will look at identifying interventions to support parents and carers. Read more about the published protocol for this systematic review, ‘Needs of parents and carers of children and young people with mental health difficulties: protocol for a systematic review’.
Members of the Research team have been involved in research showing that university counselling contributes to significantly reduced psychological distress for students. In addition, the study showed that the impact of students’ problems on academic outcomes (thoughts of leaving university, ability to study and overall student experience) was reduced following university counselling. Students also rated counselling to have been effective to at least ‘a limited extent’ across all academic outcomes 83% of the time. Read the published findings of this research.
Dr Clare Symons, BACP Head of Research, has written a chapter on ‘Complaints: learning, prevention, and procedures’ for the recently published SAGE Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (5th ed), co-edited by Terry Hanley and Laura Anne Winter.

In the spotlight

‘Although the psychoanalytic profession has become more inclusive over time, the overall picture remained mixed’

Dr Wayne Full is Head of Projects at the British Psychotherapy Foundation but was previously a Senior Research Fellow at BACP, leading on research linked to equality, diversity and inclusion. He has a PhD in Psychoanalytic Studies from the UCL Psychoanalysis Unit, specialising in psychoanalytic thinking on same-sex desire.

Tell us about your research

My PhD research was completed in 2021 and employed a mixed-methods approach. It explored how UK psychoanalytic therapists working today understood and thought about same-sex desire both theoretically and clinically, and how the role of institutional psychoanalytic training shaped the views and practice of UK psychoanalytic psychotherapists working with LGBTQ+ clients.

What motivated you to undertake this research?

As an openly gay man wanting to train and practise as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist I had been deeply troubled that psychoanalytic theory and practice had historically pathologised same-sex desire, and that psychoanalytic institutes had excluded LGBTQ+ individuals from training as therapists in the past. Although the psychoanalytic profession has become more inclusive over time, the overall picture remained mixed. The subject was ripe for empirical investigation and further reappraisal, and so I embarked on my PhD.

What did your research show?

My research found that psychoanalytic therapists may benefit from being better acquainted with the wider cultural and scientific evidence about sexual orientation. UK psychodynamic training organisations must continue their efforts to create a learning and professional environment that is non-discriminatory to LGBTQ+ individuals. This may involve a broadening of the psychodynamic curriculum on sexuality and further institutional reforms.

• In each issue a practitioner, postgraduate student or academic will tell us about how their research may inform therapeutic practice.