Lisbon Meeting, September 2010

Research Committee Report 30.10.10

Chairperson: Gabriela Moita

The work in our committee was at a stage where it would be interesting to show the work done so far, to discuss the ongoing projects with others, and to learn about methodologies developed in the psychotherapeutic field. For that purpose we decided to organize a conference.

With the above-mentioned framework in mind we agreed upon co-organizing the International Summer School for Psychotherapy and Counselling Research, in Portugal. This event was organized with the Autónoma University in Lisbon, and with Célia Sales in particular, and Portuguese Psychodrama Society. Both, Conference and intensive training workshops, focused on the theme: Methodological diversity in psychotherapy and counselling research: qualitative-quantitative approaches. Please follow the link below for an overview: http://eventos.ual.pt/index.php/iss2010/2010/schedConf/overview

This International Summer School for Psychotherapy and Counseling Research was held in Lisbon, Portugal, from September 24-26, 2010, and comprehended:

• An international conference (one and half days) which comprised the presentation of papers/posters, and the discussion of ongoing studies involving a panel of renowned experts in the field of psychotherapy.
• Methodological workshops aiming at the dialogue and interaction between participants and senior researchers (Chris Evans, Joerg Frommer, John McLeod, Célia Sales and René Marineau).
• Intensive training workshops (post conference)
•  Chris Evans prepared a workshop for us (FEPTO RC):  Evaluation and assessment in routine psychological therapy: Theoretical and methodological issues, with the aim of getting us more familiar with CORE-OM, the standardized instrument we are using in the projects we are developing. In this workshop we had the opportunity to learn more about how to interpret CORE-OM and how to use routine measures in the light of the clinical encounter (i.e. individual, group, couple or family work) and the clinical modality, bringing into perspective both the research work and the usefulness of clinical service when using such measures on a  routine basis.

If you wish to take a glance at the program, please follow the link: http://eventos.ual.pt/public/conferences/4/schedConfs/4/program-en_US.pdf

All the activities were designed to encourage participants and the teaching staff to actively engage with one another and, as well, to bring therapists and researchers together. It was our aim to gather researchers and clinicians from different therapeutically schools to share, explore and reflect on psychotherapy research.

The International Summer School, in cooperation with various scientific societies, aimed to achieve three main goals:

• To share the outcomes of research projects conducted in a diverse range of therapeutic models, from individual to family and group therapy. These projects would be presented and discussed, in both oral and poster presentations, in an organized conference which was expected to last one and a half days;  
• To share and discuss plans for ongoing research (undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students and/or anyone designing a research plan). For this purpose we organized an interactive meeting involving the presentation of research plans and their discussion with experts in psychotherapy research;
• To offer workshops where it was possible to learn about and extend knowledge on specific methods, as well as to reflect upon research agendas.

It was with great pleasure that we could count with the participation of nearly 30 psychodramatists (among a total 60 participants), coming from different countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and Portugal.

It was also with pride that we observed, among the foreseen 29 presentations (some had to be cancelled due to the French air controllers’ strike which hindered several people from coming), that 15 came from the psychodrama field. These psychodrama presentations were:  

1. EMPoWER: Psychodrama with women victims of violence – an international project, Inês Testoni (Italy), Maria Silvia Guglielmin, (Italy)
2. Clinical Diagnosis from a Psychodramatic Perspective: from role theory to an operative diagnosis, Daniele Reggianini (Italy)
3. The Use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in Psychodrama Research, Gabriela Dima (Romania), Mihaela Bucuta (Romania)
4. Therapeutic effect of theatre upon a personality, Julia Vladimirovna Domina (Russia)
5. Quali-quantitative research on textual corpora to define the effectiveness of psychodramatic intervention, Anna Esposito (Italy) Giovanni Boria (Italy), Ines Testoni (Italy)
6. Studies on Treatment Effects of Psychodrama Psychotherapy, Michael Wieser (Austria)
7. Supporting Potential Development – an international project, Ines Testoni (Italy), Maria Silvia Guglielmin (Italy), Paolo Lanciani (Italy) 
8. The intra psychic dialogue between ego-actor and ego-observer: Healthy inner duality and its methodological amplification in psychodrama, Daniele Reggianini (Italy)
9. Evaluation of supervision in psychodrama training - an empirical study on outcomes and helpful factors in supervision, Hannes Krall (Austria), Jutta Fuerst (Austria) 
10. The fourth wave of cognitive behavioural psychotherapy. The neurocognitive scientific backgroubd and the practical methods of processing mental images. Göran Högberg (Sweden)
11. Active multimodal psychotherapy in children and adolescents with suicidality: description, evaluation and their clinical profile. Gorän Hoghberg (Sweden)
12. The effectiveness of psychodrama in treating anxiety disorders: A research design, Gabriela Dima (Romania), Galabina Tarashoeva (Bulgary), Inês Testoni (Italy), Maria Silvia Guglielmin (Italy), Marie Cassel (Sweden), Michael Wieser (Austria), Mihaela Bucuta (Romania)
13. Anxiety and depression in university students/young adults: study about psychotherapeutic interventions efficacy, Ana Carvalhal Melo (Portugal)
14. Psychodrama and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Obesity: assessment of a group intervention program to work with emotions, Filipa Mucha Vieira (Portugal), Sandra Torres (Portugal)
15. Prescribing Psychodrama, Madalena Nunes (Portugal)

The participants’ feedback was highly positive: in a scale poor, adequate, good, very good and excellent, we had 36% good, 55% very good and 9% excellent. Some strengths referred were “the presence of quality speakers; the workshop model; the openness to different opinions; the broad international representation; the presence of different models of psychotherapy”. The main weakness mentioned was “lack of time for the discussion of questions”. Please follow the link below to learn more about the participants’ feedback: http://feptoresearchcommittee.blogspot.com/p/lisbon-report.html

 

This first edition of the International Summer School for Psychotherapy and Counselling Research was overall positively evaluated by all participants. The organizing committee was asked to pursue the good work with similar events in the future. We believe this project to be a first step in a journey crossing theoretical and geographical frontiers, so that psychotherapeutic interventions may respond more adequately to the needs of individuals and the community at large.