Autor: admin

ABSTRACT

Back­ground: Par­ti­cu­larly during the early and middle sta­ges of the COVID-19 pan­de­mic, a population’s com­p­li­ance with pre­cau­tio­nary mea­su­res (e.g., hygiene rules, smart working, tra­vel restric­tions, and qua­ran­tine) is para­mount in preven­ting the virus from sprea­ding.

Objec­tive: The inves­ti­ga­tion and docu­men­ta­tion of dif­fe­rent socio-demographic and personality-specific fac­tors in regards to preven­ta­tive mea­su­res and con­se­quent spe­ci­fic health beha­vi­ors during the COVID-19 pan­de­mic, based on the Health Belief Model.

Method: An online sur­vey was con­duc­ted on N = 3,006 indi­vi­du­als living in Ger­many and Aus­tria during the early sta­ges of lock­down. The ques­ti­on­naire con­sis­ted of a self-administered sec­tion, explo­ring the dimen­si­ons posi­ted in the Health Belief Model: per­cei­ved seve­rity, per­cei­ved sus­cep­ti­bi­lity, per­cei­ved bar­ri­ers, per­cei­ved bene­fits of health-promoting mea­su­res, and enga­ge­ment in health-promoting beha­vi­ors. Addi­tio­nally, the fol­lo­wing stan­dar­di­zed sca­les were used to record per­so­na­lity deter­mi­nants: the Stress Coping Style Ques­ti­on­naire SVF 78 to eva­luate coping and pro­ces­sing stra­te­gies in stress­ful cir­cum­stan­ces, the Posi­tive and Nega­tive Affect Sche­dule (PANAS) to assess the emo­tio­nal state indu­ced by the coro­na­vi­rus cri­sis, the UI-18 scale to dia­gnose the into­lerance of uncer­tainty, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inven­tory (STAI) to assess anxiety.

Results: In line with the Health Belief model, four groups were crea­ted based on per­cei­ved sus­cep­ti­bi­lity and enga­ge­ment in health-promoting beha­vi­ors, and con­se­quently stu­died in rela­tion to per­so­na­lity deter­mi­nants. Those four groups dif­fe­red signi­fi­cantly in regards to almost all per­so­na­lity dimen­si­ons (p ≤ 0.005). Group 1 (n = 450) shows a redu­ced enga­ge­ment with pro­tec­tive mea­su­res and dis­plays unde­re­sti­ma­tion of the COVID-19-pandemic. Group 2 (n = 984) dis­plays many posi­tive per­so­na­lity varia­bles and high com­p­li­ance with pro­tec­tive mea­su­res. Group 3 (n = 468) per­cei­ves the sub­jec­tive risk of disease as high, but high emo­tio­nal dis­com­fort and stress cau­sed by the pro­tec­tive mea­su­res leads to the activa­tion of a com­plex fear defense. Group 4 (n = 1,004) is highly anxious and the­re­fore com­p­li­ant.

Con­clu­si­ons: This typi­fi­ca­tion has impli­ca­ti­ons for esta­blis­hing the appro­priate sup­port sys­tems. This is par­ti­cu­larly important to encou­rage com­p­li­ance with preven­tive regu­la­ti­ons wit­hin the groups, which showed poor abidance for several rea­sons. For Group 1, fur­ther edu­ca­tion on the rea­li­s­tic threat and effi­ci­ent pro­tec­tive mea­su­res is as cen­tral as the fos­te­ring of empa­thy for others; with its resource-conscious exem­plary beha­vior Group 2 could be used as a posi­tive social role model. Group 3 would bene­fit from pro­mo­ting self-care, while Group 4 requi­res infor­ma­tion on psy­cho­so­cial assis­tance avail­a­bi­lity in order to miti­gate the high stress to which the group mem­bers are sub­jec­ted.

Read full paper

Eichen­berg, C., Gross­furth­ner, M., And­rich, J., Hüb­ner, L., Kietaibl, S., & Holocher-Benetka, S. (2019). The Rela­ti­ons­hip Bet­ween the Imple­men­ta­tion of Sta­tu­tory Preven­ta­tive Mea­su­res, Per­cei­ved Sus­cep­ti­bi­lity of COVID-19, and Per­so­na­lity Traits in the Initial Stage of Corona-Related Lock­down: A Ger­man and Aus­trian Popu­la­tion Online Sur­vey. Front. Psych­ia­try, 12, 596281. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.596281

Die Corona-Krise: Jetzt der Psy­che hel­fen

3., voll­stän­dig über­ar­bei­tete und erwei­terte Neu­auf­lage 2021, ca. 350 Sei­ten, gebun­den, mit zahl­rei­chen Abbil­dun­gen
ISBN: 978–3-608–98460-6

– DAS Buch zum Thema für eine pro­fes­sio­nelle Leser­schaft
– Erläu­tert not­wen­dige Maß­nah­men in Kli­ni­ken, Hei­men, Bera­tungs­stel­len und für Nie­der­ge­las­sene
– Berück­sich­tigt die Erkennt­nisse und wis­sen­schaft­li­chen Befunde aus der Zeit der ers­ten Pan­de­mie­welle
– Erläu­tert die Beson­der­hei­ten gefähr­de­ter Ziel­grup­pen wie Allein­er­zie­hen­der, Opfer häus­li­cher Gewalt, Ein­satz­kräfte, Hin­ter­blie­be­ner und älte­rer Men­schen

Wäh­rend die in der Akut­phase der Pan­de­mie erschie­nene 1. Auf­lage das Augen­merk auf Maß­nah­men und Hil­fe­stel­lun­gen für die Phase des Lock­downs gerich­tet hatte, beschäf­tigt sich diese not­wen­dig gewor­dene Neu­auf­lage mit den mittel- und lang­fris­ti­gen Her­aus­for­de­run­gen der Pan­de­mie. Die bereits auf­ge­grif­fe­nen Fra­gen und Lösungs­an­sätze – u.a. zur Prä­ven­tion von Belas­tungs­re­ak­tio­nen, zu den Kon­zep­ten der Online-Psychotherapie oder den Hil­fen für vul­nera­ble Grup­pen wie Allein­er­zie­hende und ältere Men­schen – wer­den um neu gewon­nene Erfah­run­gen und empi­ri­sche Befunde ergänzt, die wäh­rend der ers­ten Welle in einer Viel­zahl von Stu­dien gewon­nen wer­den konn­ten. Hierzu gehö­ren auch Kon­zepte zur Erfas­sung der pan­de­mi­schen Stress­be­las­tung wie der Fra­ge­bo­gen FACT-19. In der Zwi­schen­zeit sind neue The­men­fel­der in den Vor­der­grund gerückt, etwa das der gesund­heit­li­chen Lang­zeit­fol­gen, der Aus­wir­kun­gen auf Kin­der und Jugend­li­che oder der pal­lia­tiv­me­di­zi­ni­schen Betreu­ung samt des Umgangs mit Ster­ben­den und Hin­ter­blie­be­nen.

Die an der Neu­auf­lage betei­lig­ten 30 Auto­rin­nen und Auto­ren, alle­samt Exper­tIn­nen auf ihren jewei­li­gen Gebie­ten, bli­cken zurück auf den Lock­down, schil­dern ihre Erfah­run­gen und zei­gen Per­spek­ti­ven für den zukünf­ti­gen Umgang mit den Fol­gen der Pan­de­mie auf.

Die­ses Buch rich­tet sich an:
Psy­cho­lo­gi­sche und ärzt­li­che Psy­cho­the­ra­peu­tIn­nen, psy­cho­so­ziale Aku­thel­fe­rIn­nen und trau­ma­zen­trierte Fach­be­ra­te­rIn­nen; andere sys­tem­re­le­vante Berufs­grup­pen wie Ärz­tIn­nen ande­rer Fach­rich­tun­gen; Sozi­al­ar­bei­te­rIn­nen und –päd­ago­gIn­nen.

Wei­tere Infor­ma­tio­nen auf der Verlags-Webseite

Bering, R. & Eichen­berg, C. (Hrsg.) (2021). Die Psy­che in Zei­ten der Corona-Krise. Her­aus­for­de­run­gen und Lösungs­an­sätze für Psy­cho­the­ra­peu­ten und soziale Hel­fer. Stutt­gart: Klett-Cotta.

Die Corona-Krise: Jetzt der Psy­che hel­fen

Für die gegen­wär­tige Akut­si­tua­tion wer­den drin­gend psy­cho­the­ra­peu­ti­sche Inno­va­tio­nen benö­tigt. Für Men­schen mit psy­chi­schen Erkran­kun­gen wie zum Bei­spiel Depres­sio­nen und Ängs­ten stellt die Pan­de­mie ein beson­de­res Pro­blem dar.

The­ra­peu­tIn­nen suchen nach Lösun­gen, wie sie, obwohl The­ra­pien zum gro­ßen Teil auf per­sön­li­chem Kon­takt beru­hen, wei­ter­hin gut behan­deln kön­nen und was prä­ven­tiv geleis­tet wer­den kann. Prä­ven­tiv des­halb, weil Belas­tungs­re­ak­tio­nen mit bis zu sechs­mo­na­ti­ger Ver­zö­ge­rung auf­tre­ten kön­nen.

Das vor­lie­gende Buch zeigt:
– all­ge­meine psy­cho­the­ra­peu­ti­sche Mög­lich­kei­ten
– Maß­nah­men für spe­zi­fi­sche Per­so­nen­grup­pen
– Mög­lich­kei­ten der Prä­ven­tion und der Früh­erken­nung von Belas­tungs­fol­gen
– Ein­satz­mög­lich­kei­ten von Online-Psychotherapie

Im ers­ten Teil beschäf­tigt sich das Buch mit Model­len der psy­cho­so­zia­len Not­fall­ver­sor­gung und deren Anpas­sung auf die gegen­wär­tige Pandemie-Situation.
Der zweite Teil geht auf spe­zi­fi­sche Adap­tio­nen in der Corona-Pandemie ein und beschäf­tigt sich mit Fra­gen der online-Psychotherapie und ande­ren digi­ta­len Inter­ven­ti­ons­an­ge­bo­ten (E-Mental Health), mit Ängs­ten und Alb­träu­men und ver­schie­de­nen the­ra­peu­ti­schen Ver­fah­ren wie der Licht­the­ra­pie und Übun­gen.
Der dritte Teil beschreibt die The­ra­pie für spe­zi­fi­schen Ziel­grup­pen und Risi­ko­pa­ti­en­ten, zum Bei­spiel Kin­der und Jugend­li­che, Allein­er­zie­hende, alte Men­schen und die große Gruppe der hel­fen­den Berufe.

Wei­tere Infor­ma­tio­nen auf der Verlags-Webseite

Bering, R. & Eichen­berg, C. (Hrsg.) (2020). Die Psy­che in Zei­ten der Corona-Krise. Her­aus­for­de­run­gen und Lösungs­an­sätze für Psy­cho­the­ra­peu­ten und soziale Hel­fer. Stutt­gart: Klett-Cotta.

ABSTRACT

Back­ground: Various types of robots have alre­ady been suc­cess­fully used in medi­cal care, and the use of new tech­no­lo­gies is also play­ing an increa­sing role in the area of sexua­lity. Sex robots are mar­ke­ted as advan­ced sex toys and sex dolls with arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. Only a few con­side­ra­ti­ons about the the­ra­peutic use of sex robots in sexual the­rapy are deba­ted in expert dis­cus­sions.

Objec­tive: The aim of this study was to con­duct a first explo­ra­tory sur­vey on the atti­tu­des of sex the­ra­pists and phy­si­ci­ans toward the the­ra­peutic bene­fits of sex robots.

Methods: This study com­pri­sed a quan­ti­ta­tive online sur­vey and a qua­li­ta­tive inter­view study. A self-constructed ques­ti­on­naire was used to sur­vey the gene­ral atti­tu­des of sex the­ra­pists and phy­si­ci­ans regar­ding the bene­fits of sex robots in the­rapy. The qua­li­ta­tive study was desi­gned to gain in-depth insight into the par­ti­ci­pants’ beliefs and atti­tu­des. The­re­fore, semi­s­truc­tu­red inter­views were con­duc­ted. The quan­ti­ta­tive data were eva­lua­ted by sta­ti­s­ti­cal ana­ly­sis, and the inter­views were tran­scri­bed and ana­ly­zed by using a groun­ded theory approach.

Results: A total of 72 sex the­ra­pists and phy­si­ci­ans com­ple­ted our self-constructed ques­ti­on­naire (res­ponse rate 15%, 72/480). Only a few respond­ents (11%, 8/72) said that the use of sex robots was not con­ceiva­ble for them, and almost half of all the­ra­pists and phy­si­ci­ans could ima­gine recom­men­ding sex robots in the­rapy (45%, 33/72). The atti­tude toward sex robots as a the­ra­peutic tool was very hete­ro­ge­neous, with gen­der (P=.006), age (P=.03), and occupa­tio­nal dif­fe­ren­ces (P=.05); female the­ra­pists, older the­ra­pists, and psy­cho­lo­gists (in con­trast to phy­si­ci­ans) were more cri­ti­cal toward the the­ra­peutic use of sex robots. The ana­ly­sis of the 5 inter­views iden­ti­fied 3 high-level core the­mes that were repre­sen­ta­tive of the par­ti­ci­pants’ res­pon­ses: (1) the import­ance of the per­so­nal defi­ni­tion of sex robots for the assess­ment of their the­ra­peutic bene­fits, (2) the­ra­peutic bene­fits and dan­gers of sex robots, and (3) con­side­ra­ti­ons on the qua­lity of human-robot sexua­lity. Initial insights into the pos­si­ble the­ra­peutic use of sex robots in dif­fe­rent dis­or­ders (eg, sexual dys­func­tion or pedo­phi­lia) and situa­ti­ons were gai­ned from the per­spec­tive of sex the­ra­pists.

Con­clu­si­ons: The results of this study pro­vide a first over­view of the poten­tial the­ra­peutic use of sex robots. Moral, ethi­cal, and treatment-related issues in this con­text are still unre­sol­ved and need to be fur­ther rese­ar­ched. We sug­gest inte­gra­ting the topic into the trai­ning of sex the­ra­pists to form opi­ni­ons bey­ond media images and to show the­rapy pos­si­bi­li­ties. Sci­en­tists enga­ged in sexual rese­arch should be invol­ved in the deve­lop­ment of sex robots to design robots with posi­tive effects on sexual edu­ca­tion, sexual the­rapy, sexual coun­se­ling, and sexual well-being for inte­rested groups.

Eichen­berg, C., Kha­mis, M., & Hüb­ner, L. (2019). The Atti­tu­des of The­ra­pists and Phy­si­ci­ans on the Use of Sex Robots in Sexual The­rapy: Online Sur­vey and Inter­view Study. Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Rese­arch, 21(8):e13853. DOI: 10.2196/13853.

Eichen­berg, C. (Ed.) (2019). Theme Issue on Robotics in Medi­cine, Psy­cho­logy, and Psy­cho­the­rapy. Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Rese­arch. Online: https://www.jmir.org/themes/726.

Die wech­sel­sei­tige Beein­flus­sung von Kör­per und Psy­che ist Thema der Psy­cho­so­ma­tik als Wis­sen­schaft und kli­ni­sche Anwen­dung. Die­ses Buch gibt einen sys­te­ma­ti­schen Ein­blick in Theo­rie und Pra­xis der Kli­ni­schen Psy­cho­so­ma­tik und beschreibt die Bezie­hung zwi­schen Kör­per und Psy­che. Dabei wer­den vor dem Hin­ter­grund pra­xis­na­her Kon­zepte neben den wich­tigs­ten psy­cho­so­ma­ti­schen Erkran­kun­gen und soma­to­psy­chi­schen Stö­run­gen auch kon­krete Behand­lungs­mög­lich­kei­ten und gän­gige Unter­su­chungs­in­stru­mente vor­ge­stellt.

Das Lehr­buch für Kli­ni­sche Psy­cho­so­ma­tik eig­net sich somit als kom­pak­tes Ein­stiegs­werk für das Stu­dium und als ver­tie­fen­des Nach­schla­ge­werk für die beruf­li­che Pra­xis im medi­zi­ni­schen, psy­cho­lo­gi­schen, sozial- und spe­zi­al­the­ra­peu­ti­schen Bereich.

Wei­tere Infor­ma­tio­nen auf der Verlags-Website

Eichen­berg, C. & Senf, W. (2019). Ein­füh­rung Kli­ni­sche Psy­cho­so­ma­tik. Mün­chen: UTB.

ABSTRACT

Back­ground: An increa­sing num­ber of people con­sult phy­si­ci­ans because of dis­t­res­sing infor­ma­tion found online. Cyber­chon­dria refers to the pheno­me­non of health anxiety because of online health infor­ma­tion.

Objec­tive: This study aimed to examine online health rese­arch of indi­vi­du­als with and without sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria and their impact on health anxiety as well as beha­vior.

Methods: An online sur­vey was con­duc­ted. Demo­gra­phic data, health-related inter­net use, and gene­ral health beha­vior were asses­sed. The ill­ness atti­tude scale was used to record sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria.

Results: The final sam­ple con­sis­ted of N=471 par­ti­ci­pants. More than 40% (188/471) of par­ti­ci­pants showed at least some sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria. Par­ti­ci­pants with sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria used the inter­net more fre­quently for health-related pur­po­ses and also fre­quen­ted more online ser­vices than indi­vi­du­als without sym­ptoms. Most online health ser­vices were rated as more relia­ble by indi­vi­du­als with sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria. Chan­ges to beha­vior such as doc­tor hop­ping or orde­ring non­pre­scri­bed medi­cine online were con­side­red more likely by indi­vi­du­als with sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria.

Con­clu­si­ons: Results show that indi­vi­du­als with sym­ptoms of hypo­chon­dria do not turn to online rese­arch as a result of lacking alter­na­ti­ves but rather con­sult health ser­vices on- as well as off­line.

Eichen­berg, C., & Schott, M. (2019). Use of Web-Based Health Ser­vices in Indi­vi­du­als With and Without Sym­ptoms of Hypo­chon­dria: Sur­vey Study. Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Rese­arch, 21(6): e10980. DOI: 10.2196/10980.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Die psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­sche Theo­rie und Pra­xis ste­hen ebenso wie soziale Bezie­hun­gen und die Berei­che der psy­chi­schen Gesund­heit unter dem Ein­fluss der Ent­wick­lung moder­ner Medien. So eröff­net ins­be­son­dere eine inter­net­ge­stützte psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­sche Behand­lung im psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­schen Fach­kreis eine Ambi­va­lenz zwi­schen Zwei­fel und Kri­tik an der Ver­wen­dung neuer Medien in der Psy­cho­ana­lyse, bei gleich­zei­ti­ger Fas­zi­na­tion für die­ses Thema auf­grund sich neu bie­ten­der Setting-Optionen. Hilf­rei­cher als ein­sei­tig geführte Dis­kus­sio­nen um die Chan­cen und die Gren­zen einer „Online­psy­cho­ana­lyse“, ist es, psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­sche Pro­zesse in der Inter­net­kom­mu­ni­ka­tion empi­risch fun­diert zu beleuch­ten. Daher wer­den zunächst die ver­schie­de­nen Schnitt­stel­len der Psy­cho­ana­lyse mit dem Inter­net auf­ge­zeigt und dabei sowohl psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­sche Über­le­gun­gen zu den Aus­wir­kun­gen sozia­ler Medien auf das Indi­vi­duum, Bezie­hun­gen und die Gesell­schaft beschrie­ben als auch der aktu­elle Stand der For­schung sowie die aktu­elle Pra­xis zu inter­net­ge­stütz­ten psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­schen Behand­lung dar­ge­stellt. Des Wei­te­ren wer­den Über­le­gun­gen zur the­ra­peu­ti­schen Bezie­hung im Online-Setting mit Rück­be­zug auf aktu­elle For­schungs­er­geb­nisse beschrie­ben. Abschlie­ßend wer­den nütz­li­che Impli­ka­tio­nen und prak­ti­sche Emp­feh­lun­gen für die psy­cho­ana­ly­ti­sche Behand­lung zusam­men­ge­fasst, die sowohl gesetz­li­che Rege­lun­gen, ethi­sche Aspekte als auch Indi­ka­tion und Kon­tra­in­di­ka­tion von „online ses­si­ons“ in lau­fen­den Behand­lun­gen fokus­sie­ren.

Eichen­berg, C., & Hüb­ner, L. (2018). Psy­cho­ana­lyse via Inter­net: Ein Über­blick zum aktu­el­len Stand der Dis­kus­sion um Mög­lich­kei­ten und Gren­zen. Psy­cho­the­ra­peut, 4. DOI: 10.1007/s00278-018‑0294-0.

Abs­tract

BACKGROUND: Serious games are com­pu­ter or video games that con­tain ele­ments that are spe­ci­fi­cally desi­gned for the pur­pose of edu­ca­tion or trai­ning. Serious games are increa­sin­gly being used wit­hin health­care, but their intro­duc­tion into and app­li­ca­tion in psy­cho­the­ra­peutic set­tings as an e-mental health tre­at­ment moda­lity rai­ses ques­ti­ons for both pati­ents and the­ra­pists. Cur­rent rese­arch demons­tra­tes the poten­tial role and effec­tiven­ess of serious games wit­hin a psy­cho­the­ra­peutic con­text. Howe­ver, a limi­ted under­stan­ding of pati­ents’ and the­ra­pists’ exis­ting know­ledge and expe­ri­ence of serious games, as well as of their rea­di­ness to uti­lize and apply them for the tre­at­ment of psy­cho­lo­gi­cal con­di­ti­ons, requi­res fur­ther inves­ti­ga­tion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Accep­tance, expe­ri­ence, and requi­re­ments for the uti­liza­t­ion of serious games in the­ra­peutic con­texts were asses­sed through online sur­veys with German-speaking pati­ents (n = 260) and psy­cho­the­ra­pists (n = 234). Respond­ents’ ans­wers were ana­ly­zed by a com­bi­na­tion of descrip­tive and infe­ren­tial sta­ti­s­tics by using SPSS.

RESULTS: Cur­rent know­ledge regar­ding serious games was very limi­ted, with only 10.4% of pati­ents and 11.5% of the­ra­pists reporting exis­ting know­ledge. Howe­ver, a gene­ral open­ness toward the con­cept was obser­ved: 88% of pati­ents and 90% of the­ra­pists could envi­sage a the­ra­peutic use. Pati­ents (rs = 0.169, p = 0.006) who self-rated their level of com­pu­ter and video game exper­tise as high were more likely to con­sider use wit­hin psy­cho­the­rapy, com­pa­red with pati­ents who self-rated their exper­tise as low. The­ra­pists who cur­rently play com­pu­ter and video games per­ceive fewer dis­ad­van­ta­ges of serious game app­li­ca­tion in a psy­cho­the­ra­peutic con­text (p = 0.097). Con­side­ra­tion of serious game use was dif­fe­ren­tia­ted by the the­ra­peutic approach (p = 0.003), spe­ci­fic men­tal dis­or­ders (hig­hest rated rele­vant cases: anxiety dis­or­ders, affec­tive dis­or­ders, dis­or­ders regar­ding impulse con­trol, and adjust­ment dis­or­ders), and pati­ent age (i.e., use with young adults was deemed the most appro­priate by 91.8% of the­ra­pists).

CONCLUSION: The app­li­ca­tion of serious games is con­ceiva­ble for pati­ents and the­ra­pists, espe­cially as a com­ple­men­tary ele­ment to tra­di­tio­nal face-to-face psy­cho­the­rapy. Accep­tance is stron­gly rela­ted to the­ra­peutic con­text. Only a small num­ber of the­ra­pists and pati­ents agree on the pos­si­bi­lity of using a serious game ins­tead of face-to-face the­rapy.

Eichen­berg, C., Grab­mayer, G. & Green, N. (2016). Accep­tance of Serious Games in Psy­cho­the­rapy: An Inquiry into the Stance of The­ra­pists and Pati­ents. Tele­me­di­cine and e-Health, April 5^th. doi:10.1089/tmj.2016.0001

ABSTRACT

Back­ground: The use of the Inter­net as a source of health infor­ma­tion is gro­wing among people who expe­ri­ence men­tal health dif­fi­cul­ties. The increase in Inter­net use has led to ques­ti­ons about online information-seeking beha­vi­ors, for example, how psy­cho­the­ra­pists and pati­ents use the Inter­net to ascer­tain infor­ma­tion about each other. The notion of psy­cho­the­ra­pists see­king infor­ma­tion about their pati­ents online (patient-targeted goog­ling, PTG) has been iden­ti­fied and explo­red. Howe­ver, the idea of pati­ents sear­ching for infor­ma­tion online about their psy­cho­the­ra­pists (therapist-targeted goog­ling, TTG) and the asso­cia­ted moti­ves and effects on the the­ra­peutic rela­ti­ons­hip remain unclear.

Objec­tive: This study inves­ti­ga­ted for­mer and cur­rent German-speaking psy­cho­the­rapy pati­ents’ beha­vior and atti­tu­des rela­ting to TTG. In addi­tion, pati­ents’ methods of infor­ma­tion gathe­ring, moti­ves, and suc­cess in sear­ching for infor­ma­tion were exami­ned. Fur­ther­more, pati­ents’ expe­ri­en­ces and per­cep­ti­ons of PTG were explo­red.

Methods: Over­all, 238 for­mer and cur­rent psy­cho­the­rapy pati­ents respon­ded to a new ques­ti­on­naire spe­ci­fi­cally desi­gned to assess the fre­quency, moti­ves, use, and out­co­mes of TTG as well as expe­ri­en­ces and per­cep­ti­ons of PTG. The study sam­ple was a non­re­pre­sen­ta­tive con­ve­ni­ence sam­ple recrui­ted online via several German-speaking the­rapy plat­forms and self-help forums.

Results: Of the 238 for­mer and cur­rent pati­ents who respon­ded, 106 (44.5%) had obtai­ned infor­ma­tion about their the­ra­pists; most of them (n=85, 80.2%) had used the Inter­net for this. Besi­des curio­sity, moti­ves behind infor­ma­tion sear­ches inclu­ded the desire to get to know the the­ra­pist bet­ter by attemp­t­ing to search for both pro­fes­sio­nal and pri­vate infor­ma­tion. TTG appeared to be asso­cia­ted with pha­ses of the­rapy in which pati­ents felt that pro­gress was not being made. Pati­ents being trea­ted for per­so­na­lity dis­or­ders appear to engage more fre­quently in TTG (rphi = 0.21; P=.004). In gene­ral, howe­ver, infor­ma­tion about the­ra­pists sought for online was often not found. Fur­ther­more, most pati­ents refrai­ned from tel­ling their the­ra­pist about their infor­ma­tion sear­ches.

Con­clu­si­ons: Pati­ents appear to engage in TTG to obtain both pro­fes­sio­nal and pri­vate infor­ma­tion about their psy­cho­the­ra­pists. TTG can be viewed as a form of client-initiated dis­clo­sure. It is the­re­fore important to include TTG as a sub­ject in the­ra­pists’ edu­ca­tion and also to raise awa­ren­ess wit­hin pati­ent edu­ca­tion. This inves­ti­ga­tion pro­vi­des the first fin­dings into TTG to begin debate on this sub­ject.

Zum voll­stän­di­gen Online-Artikel im Jour­nal of Medi­cal Inter­net Rese­arch: http://mental.jmir.org/2016/2/e22/

Eichen­berg, C. & Sawyer, A. (2016). Do Pati­ents Look Up Their The­ra­pists Online? An Explo­ra­tory Study Among Pati­ents in Psy­cho­the­rapy. J Med Inter­net Res, 18 (1):e3. DOI: 10.2196/mental.5169.