Common mistakes in psychotherapy

Abstract

To better monitor the psychotherapy training of psychiatric residents and to understand therapist factors involved in a negative outcome to psychotherapy, the authors surveyed 20 supervisors on the frequency of mistakes made by resident therapists. Among the mistakes most commonly made were wanting to be liked by patients, premature interpretations, overuse of intellectualization, inability to tolerate patients' aggression, and avoidance of fee setting. The authors conclude that the mitigation of the most common errors requires open discussion of countertransference issues.