Profesyonel kendilik gelişimi çerçevesinde psikoterapistlerin yetersizlik duygularına dair anlam yaratma süreci: kaynaklar, sonuçlar ve savunma mekanizmaları.

The aim of the present study was to examine subjective experiences of novice and experienced psychotherapists about their feelings of incompetence in relation to their professional self. Sources and consequences of feelings of incompetence and adopted coping mechanisms of psychotherapists with feelings of incompetence were analyzed. Through purposive sampling, the study was conducted with five female psychotherapists from different experience levels. Two of the participants were experienced therapists who have made more than 300 therapy sessions and three of them were novice therapists who have made less than 50 therapy sessions. Semi-structured and face to face interviews were conducted with each of five participants and were analyzed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In addition, Defense Style Questionnaire was used to gain in-depth understanding on coping mechanisms of psychotherapists. Based on the results of the analysis, nine superordinate themes emerged. The themes were named as; ‘Therapist’s feelings of competence’, ‘Therapist’s feelings of incompetence during therapy process’, ‘Therapist’s feelings of incompetence during supervision’, ‘Evaluation of feelings of incompetence within the definition of self’, ‘Evaluation of feelings of incompetence in the framework of professional self’, ‘Issues related to the personal process of the therapist as the source of feelings of incompetence’, ‘Issues related to the therapy process as the source of feelings of incompetence’, ‘On the consequences of feelings of incompetence’, and ‘On the mechanisms of coping with feelings of incompetence’. The themes, clinical implications, and limitations of the present study were discussed depending on the relevant literature.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra