Adela Leibovich de Duarte

The importance of the theoretical framework in the formulation of clinical inferences in psychotherapy

Abstract This study explores the importance of psychotherapists’ theoretical framework as it pertains to the development of their clinical inferences and construction of working inferences. Therapists in this study came from two different theoretical groups: those with cognitive training and those with psychoanalytic training. After presenting inferences in relation to an initial session of a psychotherapeutic treatment, psychotherapists’ inferences were analyzed by a group of judges using Q-sort items (Jones, 1985). The analysis of the inferences indicates that when both the content and style of the therapists’ inferences are classified using the Q items criteria two distinctive groups of inferences appear. Each theoretical group produced a different and specific type of inferences.

Ethical behaviors of latin american psychotherapy researchers.

The ethical practices of psychotherapy researchers in Latin America were surveyed online. Of the 114 psychotherapy researchers to whom the survey was sent, 76 responded (67% response rate). Seventy-seven percent of the respondents had not received formal training in research ethics, yet 84% indicated that formal training is useful for the prevention of scientific misbehavior. Researchers admitted to various ethically questionable practices, the most common of which were related to authorship. None reported having fabricated or falsified data. The need for adequate training and evaluation of research projects is addressed.