1. Perceived challenges of becoming a psychotherapist in Bangladesh: A pilot study
Hossain, S.1, Akhter, R, 2& Hossain, S.
1 North South University. 2 University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

2. Abstract
The journey towards becoming a psychotherapist is a personal as well as professional one, with challenges. Considering the Bangladesh context where the discipline of psychotherapy is relatively new, the challenges can get even bigger. This study was conducted with 30 male and female postgraduate students to find out potential difficulties they face while they are in training. They were receiving training to become a psychotherapist in several higher education institutes in Dhaka, Bangladesh by the time of data collection. A structured interview administered to get their responses. A total of 18 factors were included to ascertain their response in a four point Likert scale. 12 out of 30 participants reported that they experience problem to sustain their attention in session. Nonetheless, most of the participants scored ‘rare’ or ‘never’ in like, whether they feel irritated towards clients. This result might suggest to study further about this issue. Findings generated through study may provide valuable insight on different topics that need to be covered during the training.

3. Introduction
Novice or trainee psychotherapists go through several stages before they become a psychotherapist (Fleming, 1953).
Theorist suggested that there are eight stages of therapist development (Skovholt and Ronnestad 1992).
They are insecure with little insight of their motivation at the first stage (Hogan, 1964).
Some theorist suggested that trainee therapists have lack of awareness of their professional functioning (Loganbill, Hardy, & Delworth, 1982).
Researchers reported that a novice therapist usually get concerned of their therapeutic skills, ability to connect with clients, performance, anxiety, role as a therapist, similarities and difference to clients, and problematic reactions to clients (Williams, Judge, Hill & Hoffman 1997).

4. Continue
Trainee reported they perceive issues like, self-criticism, reactions to clients, learning and using the helping skills, and session management as challenging task to their development (Hill, Sullivan, Knox, & Schlosser, 2007).
Feeling of Incompetence (FOI) is another common issue reported by novice therapist (Thériault, Gazzola, & Richardson, 2009)

5. Rationale
An examination of trainee therapist’s experience has large impact on training and further development (Hill, Sullivan, Knox, & Schlosser, 2007)
Psychotherapy is relatively new field in Bangladesh. Very little work has been done to gain insight on trainee therapist’s experience.
Findings gathered through this research may indicate critical issues that require attention during the training.

6. Methods
Research question: What are the most common perceived challenges novice therapist experience?
Participants: 30 trainee from three different training programme participated this training.
Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Tool: A structured questionnaire developed by the researcher to collect data in 18 domains.

7. Method
These domains were: Anger and irritable feeling toward client, impatience, being judgmental, getting emotionally involved with clients, getting personally interested for clients, terminating client with personal reason, confidence in session, failure to maintain confidentiality, not being able to provide empathy, sexually attracted to client, getting rude with client, fear about client, failure to control the session, and getting personal life affected with client’s issue,
A Likert scale was used to collect their responses. The responses were as below: 1=Always, 2= Most of the time, 3= some times, 4= Rare. 5=Never.

8. Frequency of rating (Always+ Most of the time+ Sometimes)
Result
Variables
Frequency of rating (Always+ Most of the time+ Sometimes)
Percentage of Rating
(%) 1
Being angry with client for not doing homework. 16
53.3 2
If the client doesn’t recover quickly I feel uncomfortable. 13
43.3 3
My day to day life work hampered by thinking too much of the client’s problem. 9 30 4
I need not any kind of study before taking decision for clients. 14
46.7 5
Taking sessions of my client’s for a long time makes me less attentive. 12 40 6
I want some client to be terminated and to get rid of them. 10
33.4 7
Sometimes I wish to share some interesting information which I have heard from my clients.
33.3

9. Results

18. Results.
The most common challenges reported by the novice therapist was difficulties in maintaining attention.
The second common challenge was irritability towards client due to fast problem reduce.
Participants rarely consider influence on personal life as a challenge.
They scored low on the questions like being judgmental, getting personally interested for clients, and getting emotionally involved with clients.
They reported they feel confident during the session and they can manage to maintain confidentiality.

19. Discussion
Novice therapist in Bangladesh mostly reported problem related to session management. This finding is similar to other finding (e.g., Hill, Sullivan, Knox, & Schlosser, 2007)
However, they did not report issues like lack of self-efficacy and self- confidence. They reported they are generally confident about the session.
This finding is contrary to previous finding ((Thériault, Gazzola, & Richardson, 2009)
They do not perceive other issues like maintaining confidentiality as a challenge.
Majority of the participants reported they are not judgmental in the session and they do not feel any personal interest towards client.

20. Discussion
The preliminary findings suggested that novice therapist generally feel competent and managed to acquire basic skill like empathy.
With a bright look, it seemed training of the novice therapist is adequate as they did not perceive many challenges.
However, it could be well possible they answered in a socially desirable way.
They may also have inflated perception about their competency.

21. Limitations This study worked with a small number of participant.
As it is a survey based study, not causal inferences can be drawn.
This study did not collect data with a validated scale.
It only includes participants from a urban school.

22. Future direction
Conduct in depth study to ascertain more factors related to novice therapist’s experience in Bangladesh.
Incorporate the findings into the training and supervision of therapist.

23. Reference
Fleming, J. (1953). The role of supervision in psychiatric training. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 17, 157–159.
Hill, C. E. C., Sullivan, C., Knox, S., & Schlosser, L. Z. (2007). Becoming psychotherapists: Experiences of novice trainees in a beginning graduate class. Psychotherapy: Theory, …, 44(4), 434–
Hogan, R. A. (1964). Issues and approaches in supervision. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1, 139–141.
Loganbill, C., Hardy, E., & Delworth, U. (1982). Supervision: A conceptual model. The Counseling Psychologist, 10, 3–42.
Skovholt, T. M., & Ronnestad, M. H. (1992). The evolving professional self: Stages and themes in therapist and counselor development. New York: Wiley.
Thériault, A., Gazzola, N., & Richardson, B. (2009). Feelings of incompetence in novice therapists Consequences, coping, and correctives. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 43(2), 105–119.