Experiences of psychotherapy in Lebanon : perceived effects of adverse and facilitating psychotherapeutic ingredients

Abstract

Client experiences of psychotherapy is an area of research that has been increasingly gaining attention. However, no study has yet been conducted exploring this phenomenon and its potential implications on psychotherapeutic outcomes in Lebanon and the Arab World. The current study is the first to examine client experiences of psychotherapy in Lebanon using a quantitative approach. Participants reported having previously attended psychotherapy in Lebanon. The majority of those were split into two groups: those who had self-terminated psychotherapy owing to a perceived resolution of their presenting problems and those who had self-terminated psychotherapy due to a perceived lack of resolution of their presenting problems. These two groups were compared on a number of different variables including the five subscales of the Experience of Therapy Questionnaire (Parker et al., 2012), six psychotherapy outcome domains (Current Well-Being, Quality of Life, Relationships, Sense of Autonomy, Symptom Reduction, and Coping), and current well-being. Participants in the No Resolution Group consistently reported poorer current well-being and lower mean outcome scores across all six domains when compared to the Resolution Group, in addition to consistently scoring higher on the ‘Passive Therapist’ and ‘Negative Therapist’ subscales. In addition, no differences in psychotherapy outcome scores were observed betweenpsychotherapeutic modalities but participants who reported that their psychotherapist had not identified the therapeutic model being utilized reported poorer outcomes. This study highlights the importance of common factors in mediating psychotherapeutic outcomes.Implications for the delivery of psychotherapy services in Lebanon are identified and discussed.