Vanaf de bank bezien: het patiëntperspectief op psychoanalytische behandelingen in kwalitatief onderzoek

Perspectives from the couch: The patient's perspective in psychoanalytic research

To bridge psychoanalytic research and clinical practice we have to translate quantitative research results into language that helps us understand what our patients need. Qualitative research into the patient's perspective has great value to offer the clinician. The voice of the most important person in the consulting room is there to contribute to the therapeutic endeavour, and this can help us actively to strengthen and further develop psychoanalytic therapies. This article presents an up-to-date overview of the available qualitative literature regarding the patient's perspective on psychoanalytic treatments and considers the implications for the therapist's daily work and for research agenda. Patients stress the importance of being active agents in their own therapies. In that vulnerable process they seek active, accepting and caring support by therapists to achieve the goals that actually matter to them. The patient's view of the therapy process partly reflects the view of therapists and psychoanalytic theories. On the other hand, the classical roles of patient and therapist in psychoanalytic therapies are called into question. The relative poverty of available literature on the patient's perspective on psychoanalytic therapy, most notably in a Dutch context, indicates the importance of incorporating this kind of qualitative research into our current science.