A descriptive study: The use of psychotherapy in the clinical practice of the mental health professionals in Turkey

Abstract

The mental health field has gradually given more importance around the world. It has become perceived as in a state that the individuals have no psychopathology and have the optimal benefits in terms of social, emotional and psychological well being. In this regard, in the recent study, by focusing on the psychotherapy, the characteristics of clinical practice of the mental health professionals in Turkey were defined. The main purpose of the study was to define how they work in clinical practice, in terms of clinical expertise, type of clinical practice, theoretical orientation, and proposed intervention types. A sample of 245 mental health professionals, consisting of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychological counselors, clinical psychologists and clinical psychology MA students filled out the questionnaire, designed by the authors. Two methods were utilized. The public link of the questionnaire was sent to the major email groups in which mental health workers were the members. Additionally, the questionnaire was converted into a hard copy, and then distributed to major hospitals, psychological counseling centers, and private psychotherapy clinics in Istanbul. The findings displayed that defining one as a “psychotherapist” was different than being a “psychologist”, or “psychiatrist”, etc. In the clinical practice, psychotherapy was being mostly used, and theoretical orientation was mostly any psychoanalytic approach. Mental health workers proposed psychotherapy as the primary clinical intervention, and psychopharmacology as the secondary clinical intervention. To sum up, psychotherapy was given importance and priority in the clinical practice by both the psychology and the psychiatry group of people.