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The therapist's experience of love for patients
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
The therapist's experience of love for patients
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
McCann
NamePart
(type = given)
Laura
NamePart
(type = date)
1961
DisplayForm
Laura McCann, 1961-
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = text)
author
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Skean
NamePart
(type = given)
Karen Riggs
DisplayForm
Karen Riggs Skean
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
chair
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Hersey
NamePart
(type = given)
Brook
DisplayForm
Brook Hersey
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2020
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2020-05
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO 639-3:2007);
(type = text)
English
Abstract
(type = abstract)
From the beginning of psychoanalysis, love has been recognized as a crucial and healing part of the therapeutic relationship. The literature, which has focused more on the experience of the patient than that of the therapist, suggests that while therapists do feel love for patients, they are uncomfortable with these feelings and reluctant to discuss them in a public forum. This qualitative study explores the experience of love from the therapist’s point of view, bringing the topic more into the open. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychodynamically oriented psychotherapists. A modified grounded theory method (Corbin and Strauss, 2014; McCracken, 1988) was used to analyze the data. The following themes were identified: Love for patients can be parental and/or erotic; is characterized by warmth, care, and stretching the frame; is deepened by having survived struggle and even hatred together as well as by the passage of time; is characterized by careful listening and the dedication that goes with it; and is at times akin to spiritual love. Findings support, challenge, and expand on different aspects of previous discussions in the literature. Consistent with the literature, most participants reported experiencing a range of loving feelings for patients. In contrast to the literature, participants reported feeling comfortable both experiencing and discussing these feelings. Expanding on the literature, participants reported that the greatest influence on their attitudes towards love for patients was their own therapy. This study supports the importance of love in promoting healing in psychotherapy and suggests a need for greater awareness of loving feelings in training and supervision.
Subject
(authority = local)
Topic
Psychotherapy
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Clinical Psychology
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = local)
rucore10001800001
Identifier
ETD_11001
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/t3-amzt-f767
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (iv, 124 pages)
Note
(type = degree)
Psy.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Location
PhysicalLocation
(authority = marcorg);
(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
McCann
GivenName
Laura
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2020-05-28 10:51:54
AssociatedEntity
Name
Laura McCann
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
RULTechMD
(ID = TECHNICAL1)
ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem
(VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
CreatingApplication
Version
1.3
ApplicationName
Mac OS X 10.9.5 Quartz PDFContext
DateCreated
(point = end);
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact)
2020-05-28T14:31:26
DateCreated
(point = end);
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact)
2020-05-28T14:31:26
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Statistical Profile