Abstract

SOUZA, Márcia Michele de  and  TEIXEIRA, Rita Petrarca. What does it mean to be a “good” psychotherapist?. Aletheia [online]. 2004, n.20, pp. 45-54. ISSN 1413-0394.

The present study has the objective of learning the perceptions of psychotherapists and patients in psychoanalytic psychotherapy about the essential characteristics in the exercise of psychotherapy. Five of these professionals and five patients in treatment in this same theoretical approach participated in this research. The method used to analyze the data was the qualitative, according to Bardin (1998). The results point out that the psychotherapist is seen as someone that possesses personal and technical conditions, which involve availability, hearing capacity and theoretical study. To be a good psychotherapist involves a construction that happens throughout models of identification, practice, study, supervision and personal treatment. The patients perceive these characteristics in a subtle way, and they demonstrate this by staying in treatment, especially when the professional transmits confidence to them.

Keywords : Psychotherapy; Psychotherapists characteristics; Psychotherapy training.

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