The literature in the field of a therapists perception of and experience with therapeutic treatment of persons with physical disabilities points to two groups of findings. The first group raises questions about how physical disability impacts the topics that a client discusses in the therapeutic session and how these topics differentiate from the topics brought by clients with no physical disability, while the second group is associated to research on potential modifications of methods and techniques used to treat clients with physical disabilities. With the aim to gain a deeper understanding of a therapists perception of and experience with the treatment of such clients, I studied how and under what factors a therapists perception of a clients physical disability evolves throughout the therapeutic process, how therapists experience obstacles faced by these individuals, what dilemmas therapists confront when working with such clients, what factors help them solve dilemmas and how the therapeutic process, methods in techniques used to treat clients with physical disabilities differ from those used to treat clients with no physical disability. The qualitative research comprised eleven participants, of which one was a man and ten were women. Three participants had conducted psychotherapeutic treatment of persons with visual impairment, two participants treated persons with hearing loss, and six participants worked with persons with motor disability. The data were acquired using a semi-structured interview comprising six sets of questions. The data was analysed by using the thematic analysis method. The results showed that, at the start of the process, therapists felt incompetent and overwhelmed with numerous unpleasant emotions. They also had distorted views on physical disability and devoted too great attention to physical disability. The participants mainly reported discomfort as far as their clients obstacles are concerned. The factors of the therapist, therapeutic relationship as well as supervision and participation with other experts in the field of physical disability helped therapists with their professional and personal growth and with the resolution of dilemmas associated to the accessibility of therapeutic treatment areas, the variable nature of a clients health condition and obstacles not associated to physical disability. I recommend adopting the quantitative approach for further research, as it would allow to examine the frequency and intensity of emotions and views as well as the effectiveness of helpful factors.
|
