Therapist characteristics and theoretical orientation

Therapist characteristics such as personality traits, epistemological values, beliefs and philosophy have been shown to be related to the theoretical orientation of psychotherapists

Arthur (2001) in a review of studies of both behavioural/cognitive behavioural and psychodynamic psychotherapists concluded that while the influences of training, colleagues, supervisors, initial clinical experience were important. The weight of evidence, and an analysis of the data, suggests that personality and epistemic traits are significantly involved in orientation choice.

Implications for clinical training
This has implications for training