An exploration of the therapist's experience of psychodynamic psychotherapy with people with learning disabilities

This thesis explores the field of psychotherapy with clients with learning disabilities. The work is organised into three sections: Part One: Literature Review. The review examines the available literature on psychotherapeutic contact with people with learning disabilities. The emphasis is on exploring the attitude of the profession towards such clients and charts the move from exclusion to partial inclusion. The review then explores in greater depth, the experience of providing therapy to this client group. The review notes the paucity of information on the topic and concludes that access to services has been affected by the stigmatised identity of the group. The spoiled identity associated with learning disabilities appears to be a central focus in the client-therapist relationship. Part Two: Research Report. This section describes a qualitative study exploring therapists' experience of providing therapy to this client group. Personal accounts were elicited from eleven therapists using a semi structured interview. Data were analysed using the principles ofInterpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Super ordinate themes emerged, relating to the similarities and differences with other client groups, and the experience of working with stigmatised clients. Themes were identified and theoretical links made with prior case descriptions. Part Three: Critical Appraisal. This section gives a detailed critique of the study's methodology, and explores limitations, clinical implications and directions for future research. A personal account the research process is given, including learning outcomes.