Table 2.
Summary of data on wellbeing among psychotherapists.
| Authors | Year and country | Study design | Wellbeing outcome and measure | Wellbeing predictors | Sample (gender) | Sample (mean age in years) | Stable relation (% of sample) | Workload hours week / experience years | Work setting (% of public sector) | Supervision/ personal therapy | Therapeutic modality | Main conclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Schlarb et al. (2012) | 2012, Germany | Cross-sectional | Satisfaction with life (Satisfaction with Life Scale) | Workload, Job demands, Insomnia level | • M – 193 • F – 581 • Total - 774 | 46,1 | N/A | 39,7/17,5 | 22% | N/A | • PD – 40% • CBT – 40% • Int – 10% • Syst – 10% | Almost 45% of the studied psycho therapists suffered from insomnia symptoms. Workload, specific job demands and insomnia level were the strongest negative predictors of life satisfaction among psychotherapists. |
| 2. Puig et al. (2012) | 2012, USA | Cross-sectional | Wellness (The Five Factor Wellness Inventory) | Devaluing client, Deterioration in Personal life, Incompetence, Exhaustion | • M – 23 • F – 106 • Total – 129 | 40,67 | N/A | N/A | 89% | N/A | • Int – 53% • Syst – 47% | Significant predictors of wellness among psychotherapists were specific behaviors of clients (devaluing client), problems in personal life, subjective feeling of incompetence and exhaustion by the work. |
| 3. Hardiman and Simmonds (2013) | 2013, Australia | Cross-sectional | Existential wellbeing (Spiritual Wellbeing Scale) | Severity of client trauma, Emotional exhaustion | • M – 18 • F – 71 • Total – 89 | 49,69 | N/A | 20,48/16,4 | 21% | N/A | • PD – 17% • CBT – 25% • Hum – 4% • Int – 48% • Syst – 6% | Psychotherapists declared high level of existential wellbeing coped better with highly traumatized clients and avoided emotional exhaustion at work. |
| 4. Rzeszutek et al. (2015) | 2015, Poland | Cross-sectional | Secondary traumatic stress (PTSD Questionnaire: Factorial Version) | Temperament: Emotional reactivity, Temperament: Sensory Sensitivity, Social Support | • M – 21 • F – 59 • Total – 80 | 39,48 | N/A | 10,44/9,45 | 66% | Yes / N/A | • PD – 11% • CBT – 44% • Hum – 36% • Int – 4% • Syst – 5% | The level of secondary traumatic stress symptoms among trauma psychotherapists was positively related to emotional reactivity and negatively linked to sensory sensitivity and perceived social support. |
| 5. Roncalli and Byrne (2016) | 2016, Ireland | Cross-sectional | Job satisfaction (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire) | Workload, Work experience, Supervision, Team work with co-workers Satisfaction with work with co-workers |
• M – 18 • F – 59 • Total - 77 | 37,8 | N/A | 11,3/6,7 | 100% | Yes/ N/A | • CBT – 100% | Supervision and satisfaction with teamwork with colleagues occurred to be the strongest predictors of psychotherapists' job satisfaction. |
| 6. Yip et al. (2017) | 2017, China | Cross-sectional | Compassion fatigue (The Professional Quality of Life Scale) | Mindfulness, Self-Compassion: self-warmth, Self-Compassion: Self-coldness | • M – 9 • F – 68 • Total – 77 | 35,2 | N/A | N/A /4,5 | 95% | N/A | CBT – 100% | The relationship between mindfulness and compassion fatigue was mediated by self-coldness (negative qualities in self-compassion). Thus, mindfulness may buffer the compassion fatigue among psychotherapists, but self-compassion of therapists matters. |
| 7. Fleury et al. (2017) | 2017, Canada | Cross-sectional | Job satisfaction (Job Satisfaction Survey) | Team work with co-workers Interdisciplinary collabaration |
• M – 15 • F – 53 • Total – 68 | 40 | N/A | 22,45/6,1 | 72% | Yes / N/A | Int – 100% | Team work, especially mutual supervision and the frequency of interdisciplinary collaboration with colleagues representing other psychotherapy organizations occurred to be the strongest predictors of psychotherapists' job satisfaction. |
| 8. Hitge and van Schalkwyk (2018) | 2017, South Africa | Cross-sectional | Psychological wellbeing (Mental Health Continuum Short Form) | Meaningfulness, Resilience | • M – 72 • F – 182 • Total – 254 | 43,2 | N/A | 7,5/13,4 | 53% | Yes / N/A | N/A | Searching for meaning and resilience as a personality trait were the strongest predictors of psychotherapist's wellbeing. |
| 9. Laverdière et al. (2018) | 2018, Canada | Cross-sectional | Satisfaction with Life (Satisfaction with Life Scale) | Perceived stress, Work experience, Workload | • M – 53 • F – 187 • Total – 240 | 42,25 | N/A | 23,5/13,5 | 60% | Yes / N/A | • PD−31% • CBT – 31% • Hum – 15% • Int – 22% • Syst – 1% | Perceived stress, high workload and less years of experience were predictors of poor life satisfaction among psychotherapists. |
| 10. Rupert and Dorociak (2019) | 2019, USA | Cross-sectional | Satisfaction with Life (Satisfaction with Life Scale) | Self-Care, Perceived job stress | • M – 127 • F – 295 • Total – 422 | 50,48 | 76% | 44,13/16,71 | 66% | Yes/ N/A | N/A | Self-care enhanced psychotherapists' wellbeing and the main mechanism in that process was reducing the level of perceived stress at work. |
| 11. Yela et al. (2020) | 2019 Spain | Longitudina; | Psychological wellbeing (Psychological Wellbeing Scales) | Mindfullness Self-compassion |
• M – 7 • F – 54 • Total – 61 | 25,6 | N/A | 11,3/1,1 | 100% | N/A | N/A | Training in mindfulness and self-compassion showed significant improvement in psychotherapist' wellbeing over time. |
| 12. Müller et al. (2020) | 2019, Germany | Cross-sectional | Satisfaction with Life (Life Satisfaction Questionnaire) | Work-related strain, Supervision | • M – 54 • F – 56 • Total – 110 | 51,4 | N/A | 41,6/ 13,7 | 25% | Yes / N/A | Int – 100% | Supervision significantly improved psychotherapists' job satisfaction when they experienced a high amount of work-related strain. |
| 13. Brugnera et al. (2020) | 2021, Italy | Cross-sectional | Psychological wellbeing (Psychosocial General Wellbeing Index) | Attachment anxiety, Attachment avoidance, Reflective Functioning, Gender, Age | • M – 84 • F – 332 • Total – 416 | 43,94 | 76% | N/A / 10,1 | N/A | Yes / N/A | • PD – 13% • CBT – 11% • Int – 66% • Syst – 1% | Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were negatively related, while reflective functioning was positively associated with wellbeing among psychotherapists. Older psychotherapists declared higher wellbeing. |
| 14. Summers et al. (2021) | 2021, UK | Cross-sectional | Psychological Wellbeing | Depressive symptoms Harassment or bullying Work experience Age |
• M – 320 • F – 1334 • Total – 1654 | 46,2 | N/A | N/A / 4,3 | 96% | Yes/ N/A | • CBT – 9% • Int – 52% • Syst – 39% | The strongest, negative predictors of psychotherapists' wellbeing were: being harassed, feeling depressed, older age and higher work experience. |
Gender: M, Male; F, Female; O, Other; Therapeutic Modality: PD, Psychodynamic; CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Hum, Humanistic; Int, Integrative; Syst, Systemic; N/A, Not Available.