Psykologstudenters inställning till exponering som behandlingsmetod och syn på att integrera exponering inom psykodynamisk terapi

Sammanfattning

Exposure is one of the most empirically validated treatment methods within cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and is effective in treating several types of anxiety. Despite this, research shows that the method often faces resistance among therapists, contributing to underutilization in clinical practice. It is unclear to what extent this resistance exists among psychology students. This explorative study aimed to examine the attitudes towards exposure as a treatment method in Swedish psychology students, attending the psychology program at Lund’s University. The possibility of integrating exposure within psychodynamic therapy (PDT) was also examined. The study also examined group differences in attitudes towards exposure, in regards to term, previous experience of anxiety treatment and allying to different therapies. The study used a cross-sectional design with data from 47 students, collected through a partly self-constructed survey. The survey’s main inclusions were the Therapists Beliefs about Exposure Scale (TBES) and manually constructed items regarding the implementation of exposure within PDT. The results for TBES showed that the participants had generally few negative attitudes towards exposure (M = 22.66, SD = 7.38). Little resistance was reported for implementing exposure in PDT. No significant group differences were found in attitudes towards exposure. The results indicate that their attitudes are formed early in their education and are fairly stable in the latter stages. Main limitations were the small sample and the use of manually constructed items. Future research should replicate the study with bigger populations, as well as using longitudinal designs to examine the stability of the attitudes.