The role of personal therapy for therapists: a review

Abstract

This paper reviews the research literature on personal therapy and makes some recommendations for how future work in this area may be improved. Despite the general acceptance of the importance of personal therapy amongst therapists, there has been relatively little research to evaluate its effectiveness. The vast majority of studies have consisted of surveys of therapists' opinions and experiences of therapy or naturalistic comparisons across therapists who have or have not had therapy. The interpretation of most findings is compromised because of small sample sizes and confounding variables, nevertheless some conclusions can be made. Whilst the majority of therapists feel that they have benefited professionally from personal therapy there is very little empirical evidence that it has any measurable effect on client outcome. However, there is some evidence that personal therapy has a positive effect on those therapist qualities often cited as constructive to client change (e.g. empathy, warmth, genuineness). What is evident is that there is a need for more methodologically sound research as well as a more theoretical understanding of how personal therapy affects clinical practice, before any firm conclusions can be drawn about its usefulness. It is suggested that it may be more useful for future research in this area to focus on therapy process rather than client outcome.