UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE COUNSELLING UNIT
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EXTENT TO WHICH PSYCHOLOGICAL WOUNDS INSPIRE COUNSELLORS AND PSYCHOTHERAPISTS TO BECOME WOUNDED HEALERS, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE WOUNDS ON THEIR CAREER CHOICE, THE CAUSES OF THESE WOUNDS AND THE OVERALL SIGNIFICANCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS
ALISON BARR
IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MSc COUNSELLING STUDIES
2006
The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the UK Copyright Acts as qualified by University of Strathclyde Regulations 3.49. Due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis.
ABSTRACT This study investigates the extent to which psychological wounds inspire therapists to become wounded healers, the significance of these wounds on career choice, the causes of these wounds and the overall significance of demographic factors.
An on-line questionnaire was conducted (253 respondents). Pilot and verification studies were performed. A pluralist approach was used with the quantitative data analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics and the qualitative data analysed using thematic analysis, with a grounded theory approach.
73.9% of therapists have experienced one or more wounding experiences leading to career choice and 26.1% have not.
In relation to the significance of the event(s) on career choice, when merging ‘probably chosen career regardless’ with ‘possibly chosen career regardless’, and ‘unlikely chosen career regardless’ with ‘not considered career otherwise’, there is a slight majority in relation to the former. There are no significant differences in relation to demographic factors.
In relation to whether one or more psychologically wounding experiences led to the choice of a career as a therapist, there is a significant difference within designation, gender, grouping gender and ethnicity, and, grouping gender and age. There are no significant differences within approach, ethnicity or age.
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The majority of the wounds were caused by events experienced directly by the respondents (65%) as opposed to indirectly or both. Within demographic factors, the causes of the wounding experiences leading to career choice are not statistically significant.
The exact causes of the wounds vary enormously. The main categories are abuse, family life as a child, mental ill-health (own), social, family life as an adult, bereavement, mental ill-health (others), life threatening, physical ill-health (others), physical ill-health (own), and, other.
Many implications for the future of the therapeutic world have been highlighted. These focus mainly on supervision and training. Opportunities for further research have been highlighted.
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CONTENTS 1. Introduction
1
2. Literature Review
10
3. Method
16
4. Results
37
5. Discussion
58
6. Conclusion
68
7. References
70
8. Appendices A – PGDip Class Questionnaire
22, 33, 76
B – Internet Questionnaire
24, 79
C – Chi-Squared Analysis
33, 34, 83
D – Univariant Analysis
34, 84
E – Ethical Approval Application
35, 86
F – Odds Ratio Calculation
40, 90
G – Full Coding Analysis of
52, 91
Psychological Wounds that led to Career 9. Graphs 4.1 - Responses to the question, ‘did a(ny) psychologically
37
wounding event(s) lead you to career choice?’ 4.4 - The extent to which designation affects the likelihood
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of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.5 - The extent to which therapeutic approach affects the likelihood
40
of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.6 - The extent to which gender affects the likelihood of
42
psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.7 - The extent to which ethnicity affects the likelihood of
43
psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.8a - The extent to which age when entered counselling or
45
psychotherapy training affects the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice.
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4.9 - The extent to which interaction of gender and ethnicity
47
affects the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.10 - The extent to which interaction of gender and age when
48
entered counselling / psychotherapy training affects the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.11a - The significance of the influence of the wounding events
49
on the respondent’s choice of career. 4.11b - The significance of the influence of the wounding events
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on the respondent’s choice of career when merging ‘probably chosen career regardless’ with ‘possibly chosen career regardless’, and ‘unlikely chosen career regardless’ and ‘not considered career otherwise’. D - The cause of the psychological wounds.
51
10. Tables 4.4 - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
39
designation in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.5 - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
41
approaches in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.6 - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
42
gender in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.7 - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
44
ethnicity in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice. 4.8a - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
45
age when entered counselling or psychotherapy training in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice.
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4.8b - Chi squared test showing the statistical difference between
46
age when entered counselling / psychotherapy training in relation to the likelihood of psychologically wounding experiences leading to career choice, with ’51-60’ and ‘over 60’ removed. 4.13 - The statistical significance of the cause of (a) psychologically
52
wounding experience(s) leading to career choice, in relation to demographic factors. 4.14 - The main wounding experiences, and the percentage of
52, 53
respondents who described their experience(s), who suffered these. Table 4.15: The likelihood a therapist will have experienced
55, 56
particular events.
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