PSYCHOLOGISTS CONDUCTING PSYCHOTHERAPY: NEW FINDINGS AND HISTORICAL COMPARISONS ON THE PSYCHOTHERAPY DIVISION MEMBERSHIP

A representative sample of APA Division 29 psychologists (N = 481) engaged in psychotherapy returned a mailed questionnaire concerning their characteristics, activities, affiliations, theories, and satisfactions. Results are described in detail and compared with the findings of a similar study completed a decade ago, providing both a current assessment of the profession and a historical perspective on ensuing transformations in the division. Among the most salient findings were: (1) an aging profession that shows high career satisfaction and increased employment in independent practice; (2) 70% endorsement of psychodynamicism or psychoanalysis as a primary or secondary orientation; (3) an escalating proportion of female psychotherapists whose employment in independent practice is more than 2.5 times greater than in 1981; and (4) a negligible increase in minority therapists, indicating that we continue to be a profession of Caucasians in a society of racial and ethnic diversity.