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This study aims to examine what patients say is helpful in psychodynamic psychotherapy by analyzing responses to an open-ended question at two time points: three months into treatment and termination.

Participants in this naturalistic study were a diverse group of patients seeking treatment at a psychodynamic psychotherapy training clinic (within a public hospital system). The authors used thematic analysis to categorize patient responses to an open-ended question about what is helpful in their treatment.

The authors found that a majority of patients found their psychotherapy helpful, and patient responses broke down into 16 categories. Themes that emerged from categories were what patients experience or feel, what therapists/therapy provides and what patients do in therapy. The most frequently endorsed category at both three months and termination was embedded within other categories, “mention of an other,” which captured when patients specifically mentioned another person (i.e. the therapist) in their response. The next most frequently endorsed categories were “talking/someone to talk with,” “feeling better/experiencing well-being/improved functioning” and “having regularity/structure” (at three months) and “having attention directed at experience,” “having regularity/structure” and “experiencing the professional role of the therapist” (at termination).

Findings shed light on factors contributing to helpful psychotherapy from patients’ perspectives in their own words. While previous research has shown that the therapy relationship is an important factor in effective therapy, the findings of this study highlight this ingredient in a personal, spontaneous way.

The purpose of this paper is to address the barrier to care experienced by LGBTQIA+ populations by binary language for gender, sexual orientation and relationship status.

The authors review the research that shows linguistic barriers are a significant obstacle to healthcare for LGBTQIA+ communities. The authors describe both a process and revisions for addressing language bias in psychiatric intake/research research materials as well as quantify its impact in an adult psychotherapy clinic in a public hospital.

Patients self-identified their gender, sexual orientation and relationship status in a variety of ways when not presented with binaries and/or pre-established response choices. In addition, the non-response rate to questions decreased and the authors received positive qualitative feedback. The authors also present the revisions to the intake/research materials.

Other healthcare settings/clinicians can revise language in order to remove significant barriers to treatment and in doing so, be welcoming, non-pathologizing and empowering for LGBTQIA+ consumers of mental health services (as well as for non-LGBTQIA+ consumers who are in non-traditional relationships).

This work is one step in improving healthcare and the healthcare experience for LGBTQIA+ communities and for those in non-traditional relationships.

This work is set in a public safety-net hospital providing care for underserved and diverse populations. This paper describes the process of revising psychiatric materials to be more inclusive of the range of self-identity are: gender, sexual orientation and relationship status.