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In this article, questions raised in the personal memoirs by Geller (2013) and McWilliams (2013) about their own experiences in psychotherapy are examined using relevant data about psychoanalytic and other therapists collected as part of the multi-year international study of therapist development conducted by the Society for Psychotherapy Research Collaborative Research Network. The analyses reported compare basic professional and demographic characteristics of strongly psychoanalytically oriented therapists with those who are minimally analytic-psychodynamic, and compare the use of personal therapy by strongly psychoanalytically oriented therapists with minimally analytic-psychodynamic therapy. Finally, the reasons given by strongly psychoanalytically oriented therapists for seeking therapy are related to the personal benefit and the influence
This article reflects an attempt to bring clinically relevant research into a conversation with the research-relevant personal accounts written by Jesse Geller and Nancy McWilliams. In attempting this, I engaged with the articles by Geller and McWilliams, on one hand, and with colleagues in the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) Collaborative Research Network (CRN) on the other, whose years-long collaboration made this attempt to connect research and practice possible. Among those whose comments were most helpful for this article, thanks to Erkki Heinonen (National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland) for bibliographic resources and discussion of data analysis; to Profs. M. H. Rønnestad (University of Oslo) and M. J. Schofield (La Trobe University, Melbourne) for correcting errors; and to Dr. Jesse Geller (Yale University and Columbia Teachers College) who helped make this mixed-genre article more readable. Numerous other members of the SPR/CRN contributed in many ways for many years to the success of SPR/CRN international study of the development of psychotherapists, but can only be acknowledged collectively here.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David E. Orlinsky, PhD, Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, 5555 South Everett Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. E-mail:
on professional development that therapists ascribed to their own therapy. The article illustrates the mutual relevance and converging contributions that clinical reports and systematic empirical research can have in expanding our understanding of the personal experiences and professional development of psychoanalytic psychotherapists.