An IPA study investigating a man’s sense of self having taken on the role of therapist

by Paul Hogan

The aim of my thesis was to explore if a sample of men’s sense of their self changed since becoming a therapist. I explored their lived experience and their sense of self having taken on this new role. I decided on this research topic as I too was at the time transitioning to the role of therapist having not long qualified. Two other factors brought me to this research topic; in my training and professional environment male therapists were in the minority. It seemed to be that female trainees had a wide group of other female peers to share their experience of becoming a therapist. For me this was somewhat limited as there were far less male trainees. Secondly I was interested in how others in society (and in my own life) might perceive men differently as they become therapists. Previously I had conducted research for my psychology BA on men’s experience of becoming fathers for the first time so this theme of males transitioning to new roles was nascent for me. In both cases my interest was in men’s experience of their changing contexts and what meaning they made from it.

The methodology I used was Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). According to Harper and Thompson (2011) IPA is suited to research questions where the research matters to the participant, where they have an understanding of the area and where this understanding is experiential. To put it in the authors’ words, “the intent [of IPA] is exploratory rather than explanatory” (Harper and Thompson 2011, p.103).

The epistemology of the IPA perspective sees the individual’s unique experience of his or her own existence as creating knowledge. The ontological position sees the individual as coming into being through their actions in the world and the intersubjective experience with others (Hollway, 2007). In this way how an individual sees their own experience, or phenomenon, is uniquely theirs and is not the same for someone else.

Analogous to psychotherapy, the researcher is as much part of the process as is the participant in this type of research. In this context my own reflexivity is very important, being attentive to my influence on the research process. During the interviews I put aside any preconceived ideas as to how the participants might answer the questions differently to how I would answer them; I tried to keep the questions open and non-leading. I found this aspect challenging. I was aware going into the interviews how my own sense of self as a man and as a therapist has changed since becoming a therapist. I tried to bracket this off as much as possible. This reflexivity was also important in writing up the research - I was conscious of letting the data speak for itself and not adding my own meaning to it.

The research question posed was “Has your sense of self changed since taking on the role of therapist?”. So, what did I find?

I interviewed five practicing psychotherapists, four were quite new to the roles, like me, whereas one had been practicing for nearly 20 years.Their ages ranged from their 30s to their 50s. Their modalities of working were a mix of integrative and systemic.

Through the use of the IPA process many themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews. As per the process, these were ordered under higher order themes which capture the meanings. There were sub themes under each one but space does not allow the discussion of them all. An overview of the higher order themes will be given. These higher order themes are: “Identity”, “Therapy as a Role” and “Changing Relationships”. Let’s look at each theme in turn.

Theme 1 – Identity
Some participants spoke about how they moved away from previous groups or “tribes” or came into the adult role during the process of becoming a therapist. These changes could be viewed as what Byock termed the quarter life crisis (Byock, 2015, p.408). In the same volume Arnett talked about the emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000, as cited in Byock, 2015, p. 412). Both could be applied to these participants looking at this part of their lives as the search for a truer self.

Farber (1983) in his study, but with both male and female therapists, found therapists to be more self-aware and more self-assured since beginning to work as therapists. The same can be said of the participants in this study; for example one participant said that awareness for him is intrinsic in the process of becoming a therapist. This awareness in turn brought about the participants’ own acceptance of their self.

Trotta (2014) in her thesis concerning initiation and becoming a therapist discussed how the initiation affected both the personal and professional identity of the therapists concerned; in that study all the participants were female. Trotta found that it was the emergence of their authentic self that was most significant as their experience of becoming therapists. In the context of initiation it could be argued that in the study here initiation of the participants has taken place or is currently an ongoing process. It is perhaps looking at this emergent theme and the narrative of the participants that the term initiation can be used to understand the transition into the role of four of the five participants. As Smaller (2017) discussed there is a lack of male initiation in contemporary society. This aspect could be a research topic in its own right.

The aspect of how the participants’ sense of their own maleness and how they understand it emerged as a prominent theme. They do not see working in what most termed a female dominated field as a challenge to their masculinity or ‘maleness’. This is contrary to what was found in the study of a group of men doing non-traditional jobs. The men either attempted to maintain a traditional masculinity by distancing themselves from female colleagues or partially reconstructing a different masculinity by identifying with the non-traditional occupation (Cross and Bagilhole, 2002). This was not found in this study; participants kept their own definition of masculinity and what it means to each to be a man. There was an obvious identification with the role of therapist; for the participants they are men working as therapists but only in one of many roles (see later for a discussion of the therapy as a role). A participant said he did not consider if he has changed his view of himself as a man that is a therapist, in fact he never considered the question of how it may have changed how he views himself as a man that is a therapist. Another participant rejected the construction of what he perceived as other men establishing for him what it is like to be a male therapist, instead he was constructing his own. Hollway (1996, as cited in Cross and Bagilhole, 2002, pp.32-33)talks about clashing masculinities whereby a male dominated occupation giving men their traditional constructed masculinity is transferred to the non-traditional occupation by constructing a masculine culture within it. This clashing masculinities is what could be seen here as being rejected by the latter participant.

The participants did not see themselves as being different in any way to other males even though they are working in what can be defined as a non-traditional job for a male. In a study on men who were stay at home fathers, men experienced negative responses from other men owing to this role but the overall response was positive and these felt secure in their role (Robertson and Verschelden, 1993, as cited in Heppner and Heppner, 2009, p.58). This conclusion did not emerge in this study. Whereas the participants felt confident and sure of themselves as a person and as male therapists they were silent on the actual responses from other people with only one participant saying he experienced positive feedback from others.

Taking all this together; how others view a man as a therapist and how they view themselves as therapist, it could be suggested that what is emerging here is a different view on what it is to be a man; how possibly less rigid in their role men are expected to be.

Theme 2 – Therapy as a Role
Orlinsky and Rønnestad (2005) researched psychotherapists and their development around how they came to choose psychotherapy as a career, how they have changed over time and how they experience their lives (Orlinsky and Rønnestad, 2005, as cited in Saltzman, 2010, pp. 469-472). The authors say “for most psychotherapists, doing therapy is not only a job but also a calling, a vocation” (Orlinsky and Rønnestad, 2005, quoted in Saltzman, 2010, p. 470). What the findings show in this study is that the majority of participants see the role of therapist as just that - a role that is stepped in to when with clients and out of when not. Four participants are quite clear about this distinction; one sees himself as neither in a role or out of a role; but just as himself.

As therapists move from the novice stage and become more experienced there is an integration of the professional and the personal selves (Rønnestad and Skovholt, 2001, as cited in Bhola et al., 2012, p. 10). In the context of the study here, there was a clear delineation of the personal and professional selves or roles. Four of the participants were clear about stepping into the role of therapist, when with a client and that being a therapist is just a “hat” that is worn when in “the role”. One participant did not opine as such, with this participant being the longest practicing therapist while the remaining four were practicing for a much shorter time. In the context of initiation as discussed already it could be argued that this initiation process could still be unfolding with the four participants still in the process; the fifth having completed the initiation of becoming a therapist.

To the majority of participants being a therapist is a job but yet unlike a job in the usual sense of the meaning. For most it is a vocation, a calling or as a “worm in my ear” as one participant named it. It could also be argued that in this way he and other participants in this study are “actualising a vocational choice”, to borrow the phrase cited by Trotta in her research on females initiated into the role of therapist (Trotta, 2014, p.94).

Farber quotes Terkel (1972) that “there are cases where the job possesses the man”(Farber, 1983, p. 180), concluding that psychotherapy is one such job. He goes on to suggest how by the nature of the training, the inherent skills therapists may already possess, and from being immersed in the therapeutic world for periods of time, they adopt the style of psychodynamic theory in the construction of both themselves and others (Farber, 1983). He adds that the ability to switch in and out of role is difficult to do. For the participants in this study they can step in and out of the role of therapist, yet they feel that being a therapist is a vocation. Inconsistently with what Farber (1983) found, some participants here can activate “the on-off switch” despite feeling that being a therapist is vocational to the majority of them.

However, despite seeing it as a role to step in and out of, there is also the sense from the participants that it does permeate their lives, or for one participant how it could “seep” into the rest of his life. Dryden and Spurling (1989) discuss psychotherapy as a calling and how those in the study see it as no ordinary occupation. This is consistent with how the participants in the study here feel about it; a job but no ordinary job.

Theme 3 – Changing Relationships
Boyanowsky (1984), as cited in Allen and van de Vliert (1984, p.10), discussed the effects on relations to both self and others when changing career to a significantly different one. Connection to others and a greater awareness of self, and the impact of self on others emerged as a theme from the interviews. Marston found that the desire for intense and intimate relationships was the overriding motivating factor in becoming a therapist (Marston 1984, as cited in Owen, 1993, p.11). Trotta (2014) in her research on initiation found that participants' awareness towards others and the relational quality of “being present” increased through the initiation process.

Participants spoke about not wanting to be like a therapist outside the therapy room. Boundaries, other than those traditionally associated with the therapist-client relationship, suggests that participants are aware of how they are as therapists with clients might also “seep” into their personal lives. This is what Farber (1983) describes as therapists becoming stuck in the psychotherapeutic mode of thinking (Farber, 1983, as cited in Lyman 2014, p.734). The result can be distancing or overwhelming to those around them outside the therapeutic setting, what Henry et al. (1973) called a distancing aura, as cited in Farber (1983, p. 181). Farber (1983) goes on to talk about how the exposure to psychodynamic training and work can result in therapists bringing these aspects out of the therapy room and inform how they view themselves and others.

Conclusion
The research question posed was “Has your sense of self changed since taking on the role of therapist?” Men working as therapists in the early part of their career see the role of therapist as a role to step in to and out of; yet feel that being a therapist is a vocation. It seeps into other aspects of their lives but they do not want to be like a therapist outside the therapy room. There was only one participant who was working as a therapist for a relatively long period of time and what emerged for him was an integration of these roles where there are no distinctions between them. To use the participant’s own words “I see myself as just me”. Participants looked at this part of their lives as the search for a truer self.

Three of the five participants were changing from careers that were different to that of being a therapist. This did not impact their sense of identity as a man working as a therapist in what has been described here as a non-traditional career. They kept their own definition of masculinity and what it means to each to be a man and received positive affirmations from others for being a therapist. They did not see themselves as being different in any way to other males even though they are working in non-traditional job for a male.

As with any study with a small sample size and a study of a qualitative nature, it is unsafe to generalise the results to other male therapists. Another limitation involves collecting data of this nature from participants who are peers of the researcher. It is possible that they felt less comfortable disclosing certain aspects because of the connections. Nevertheless I felt that the participants were as open and forthright as they could be given the context and did not indicate any reluctance to participate fully.

The research could be built upon by repeating the process with different subgroups of male therapists; those recently graduated, those working more than, for example 10 years, and those working more than 20 years. This would expand the participant base from the cohort used in this research and may identify similar responses as in this study. Also, a longitudinal approach could be taken; for example repeating this same study with the same participants in a number of years.

So, what did it mean for me as a male transitioning to becoming a psychotherapist? Hearing the participants talk about their experiences gave me reassurance that other men felt some of the same experiences as I did, going through a similar journey. Particularly relevant for me was how participants kept their own definition of masculinity and what it means to each of them to be a man as a therapist. This was something I was working through as I had just given up one career to take on what I saw as a non-traditional male role. How this might be viewed by others was never far from my mind.My own becoming a therapist was very much about an expression of a part of my evolving identity at that time. The idea of therapist as a role gave me a new perspective that ‘therapist’ could sit alongside and coexist with other roles.

Paul Hogan (MIAHIP) is an accredited psychotherapist and holds an MA in humanistic and integrative psychotherapy, the thesis of which forms the basis of this article. He works in private practice in Dublin, and can be contacted on www.paulhogantherapy.ie.

References

​​Allen, V., & van de Vliert, E. (1984). A role theoretical perspective on transitional processes. In V. Allen, E. van de Vliert, (Eds.).Role Transitions: Explorations and Explanations (pp. 3-18). Springer US.

​Bhola, P., Kumaria, S., & Orlinsky, D. (2012). Looking within: self-perceived professional strengths and limitations of psychotherapists in India. Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy.3(2), 161-174.

​Byock, S. (2015). The inner world of the first half of life: Analytical psychology’s forgotten developmental stage. Psychological Perspectives.58(4), 399-415.

​Cross, S., & Bagilhole, B. (2002). Girls' jobs for the boys? Men, masculinity and non-traditional occupations. Gender, Work and Organization, 9(2), 204-226.

​Dryden, W., & Spurling, L. (Eds.). (1989). On Becoming a Psychotherapist. Routledge.

​Farber, B. (1983). The effects of psychotherapeutic practice upon psychotherapists. Psychotherapy: Theory, research and practice, 20(2), 174-182.

​Harper, D., & Thompson, A. (Eds.). (2011). Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health and Psychotherapy: A Guide for Students and Practitioners. Wiley-Blackwell.

​Heppner, M., & Heppner, P. (2009). On men and work: Taking the road less traveled. Journal of Career Development.36

​Hollway, W. (2007). Methods and knowledge in social psychology. In W. Hollway, H. Lucey, A. Phoenix, (Eds.).Social Psychology Matters (1st ed., pp. 33-64).The Open University.

​Lyman, E. (2014). Reflections on intrapersonal and interpersonal changes in a beginning (Psychodynamically-oriented) psychotherapist. Journal of Clinical Psychology.70(8), 731-40.

​Orlinsky, D. E., & Rønnestad, H. (2005). How psychotherapists develop: A study of therapeutic work and professional. American Psychological Association.

​Owen, I. (1993). On “The private life of the psychotherapist” and the psychology of caring. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 6(3), 251-264.

​Saltzman, C. (2010). How psychotherapists develop: A study of therapeutic work and professional growth. Psychodynamic Practice, 16(4), 469-472.

​Smaller, N. (2017). Becoming a pilgrim: the lived experience of men becoming therapists following a former career. Self & Society,44(3), 215-225.

​Trotta, E. (2014). Initiation and becoming a therapist: Investigating female experience towards a grounded theory.[Doctoral dissertation]. British Library EThOS, EBSCOhost.

IAHIP 2023 - INSIDE OUT 99 - Spring 2023