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Personal Experience of Latin American Therapists On Their Clinical Practice During The COVID 19 Pandemic Experiencia Personal de Terapeutas
Personal Experience of Latin American Therapists On Their Clinical Practice During The COVID 19 Pandemic Experiencia Personal de Terapeutas
Estudios de Psicología
To cite this article: Olga Fernández, H. Daniel Espinosa, Mariane Krause, Carolina Altimir, Carla
Mantilla, Clara Paz, Arturo G. Lozano, Doris Argumedo, Cecilia De La Cerda, Santiago Juan,
Sofia Fernández, M. Paz Lancho & Javier Fernández-Álvarez (2022) Personal experience of Latin
American therapists on their clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic (Experiencia�personal
de�terapeutas�latinoamericanos�sobre�su�práctica�clínica�durante�la�pandemia�por�COVID-19),
Studies in Psychology, 43:3, 609-638, DOI: 10.1080/02109395.2022.2133456
RESUMEN
Las condiciones de salud generadas por la pandemia por COVID-
19 restringieron severamente la terapia presencial, y se puso en
práctica la no presencial. El objetivo de este estudio fue describir y
analizar desde la perspectiva del terapeuta, cómo la pandemia ha
influido en su experiencia y en su práctica clínica. Se realizaron
entrevistas cualitativas a 24 terapeutas latinoamericanos que
habían realizado terapia no presencial durante la pandemia. La
información fue analizada siguiendo los procedimientos de
codificación de la Teoría Fundamentada. A partir del análisis se
Latin America as a whole has been strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
(Pablos-Méndez et al., 2020). A common response of many Latin American govern
ments to the pandemic was home confinement and social distancing measures.
In this context, the practice of psychotherapy, far from being immune to this
situation, was deeply affected, given that mental health interventions began to be an
essential necessity because of the COVID-19 crisis (Palomera-Chávez et al., 2021), and
there was a great demand for psychotherapists to support people who were experien
cing the psychological consequences of confinement (Swartz, 2020).
The pandemic conditions caused by the COVID-19 virus brought with them the
sudden adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by mental
health care workers, which has implied a change in attitudes towards psychotherapy
(Feijt et al., 2020) and has involved significant challenges associated with a lack of
training in this area, difficulties of access and connection to technologies, and a
decreased personal contact. In Latin America, the incorporation of ICTs into psy
chotherapy has become even more complex due to the characteristics of its population’s
social and economic vulnerability and the lack of minimum education in technical
management (Pablos-Méndez et al., 2020).
Most studies about transformations in the practice of psychotherapy during the
pandemic have ignored the subjective perspective of therapists and the changes experi
enced, and have focused even less on the person of the therapist, despite its relevance to
the psychotherapeutic process (Orlinsky & Howard, 1987). In this regard, Rokach and
Boulazreg (2022) raised the importance of expanding the evidence related to the
personal aspects of therapists affected by the pandemic and how these are related to
changes at the professional level.
Certain studies regarding the practice of psychotherapy during the pandemic from
therapists’ perspectives found that these professionals had logistical and technical
concerns about conducting video therapy, and were also worried about the lack of
interpersonal and relational contact. Cross-sectional studies conducted early in the
pandemic (Aafjes-van Doorn et al., 2021; Humer et al., 2020) found that psychothera
pists believed remote work was not comparable to in-person psychotherapy and some
what less effective; they showed certain professional doubts about the online difficulties
of communicating emotions and empathy and establishing a connection with their
patients. However, therapists reported that their actual experiences with remote psy
chotherapy were better than expected (Humer et al., 2020), and the perception of the
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 611
working alliance was good, considering it a strong and real relationship (Aafjes-van
Doorn et al., 2021). A study by Mancinelli et al. (2021) also found that psychotherapists
had a positive self-perception about remote psychotherapy despite reporting feeling
more fatigued, and that these therapists thought they were more talkative and directive
during virtual sessions than in face-to-face sessions. In a sequential mixed study, James
et al. (2022) found that therapists’ experiences in remote work differed from in-person
therapy. Therapists reported that remote therapy meant an increase in their levels of
involvement (decreased ability to disconnect from the role and few work-home bound
aries); this was associated with unpleasant emotions.
Other longitudinal research has focused on describing — at different moments of the
pandemic — the perceptions and challenges experienced by therapists in their transi
tion from in-person therapy to remote therapy. Békés et al. (2021) identified four types
of challenges reported by therapists in their study at the beginning of the pandemic:
emotional connection (feeling connected to their patients, reading emotions, expressing
and feeling empathy), distraction during sessions (both the therapist and the patient),
patient privacy (private space, confidentiality) and therapist limits (professional space,
setting limits). Three months later, perceived challenges in three domains — emotional
connection, patient privacy and therapist limits — decreased significantly, while chal
lenges associated with the distraction during sessions domain increased. Therapists’
initial concerns on achieving emotional connection with patients online was the highest
predictive level of negative attitudes towards this therapy method and its perceived
efficacy after three months, much more than the effect of the other variables such as
therapist’s age and clinical experience. In a mixed design study using three measure
ments (one month difference between T1 and T2 and four months between T2 and T3),
Stefan et al. (2021) found that the quality of the therapeutic relationship perceived by
therapists seemed to improve during the first two periods, while it showed a slight
decrease in the third period. At a qualitative level, positive and negative changes in the
therapeutic relationship were reported in the first evaluation in equal proportion, but in
the following evaluation the positive aspects outweighed the negative ones. However, in
the final evaluation, those prior positive attitudes changed, and greater limitations in
the therapeutic relationship were reported. According to the authors, this could indicate
that there might be a time limit to maintaining a remote therapeutic relationship,
especially for psychotherapists who do not have much training in this modality of
treatment. Furthermore, the feeling of unity between patient and therapist based on the
shared experience of the pandemic seemed to be important at the beginning of COVID-
19 but faded moving towards the final measurement period.
In Latin America, Espinosa and Fernández-Alvarez (2021), carried out a cross-
sectional quantitative study with an online survey that included 3,097 Ibero American
psychotherapists of all theoretical orientations, to estimate the impact that the pan
demic and confinement had had on their professional lives, explore their attitudes
towards technologies and analyse their emotional state. The main results showed that
seclusion had a negative impact on the therapist in the dimensions of economic
stability, management of professional activities, fatigue in sessions, emotional balance
and time management. The use of technological tools in the practice of psychotherapy
increased exponentially, especially the use of videoconferencing. No differences by
gender or theoretical orientation were identified in the therapists’ attitude towards
612 O. Fernández et al.
videoconferencing. The therapists also reported that they did not perceive negative
effects in the therapeutic process, or on the therapeutic relationship. The aspects they
did mention as being negatively affected by the use of videoconferencing were non-
verbal communication and the use of contextual/body language during the session. This
study identified challenging aspects in therapists’ personal and professional lives during
the pandemic while generating new questions that sought to deepen and further
describe affected areas. Questions such as: What feelings do therapists experience?
How do they arise and how are they managed? How do they relate to the therapeutic
process? What did working in a different manner mean to them? How do they learn?
What is it like to carry out remote therapy/sessions? What changes or stays the same?
How do they think patients react? What is the therapeutic relationship like?
Thus, the present study seeks to describe, from the subjectivity of the therapist, the
impact that confinement has had on these professionals and their clinical practice. Its
specific objectives are to characterize the impact experienced by therapists because of
confinement, explore how they have approached and incorporated new technologies
and describe their perception of the therapeutic process based on this new modality.
Method
This qualitative research study is guided by a constructivist approach. The objective of
this approach is to describe and understand the meanings that participants give to a
certain phenomenon — in this case, personal experience and clinical practice during the
pandemic — from the broadest and most detailed way, encompassing different sub
jectivities and assuming that these meanings are constructed in the process of inter
personal interactions (Levitt, 2020). It is important to acknowledge that from this
perspective there may be multiple valid versions of reality and that meanings are co-
constructed by researchers and participants (Charmaz, 2014).
Participants
The study involved 24 psychotherapists from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Mexico and Peru who carried out remote psychotherapy during the pandemic, and who
were part of the associated quantitative study (Espinosa & Fernández-Alvarez, 2021). As
a strategy to approach the plurality of experiences, we sought maximum variability
(Kleining, 2007) in age, gender, years of clinical experience and age group of the
patients they treated when recruiting the sample. The average age of the participants
was 43.6 (range 25 to 71); 77.7% were female, and there was an average of 23.5 years of
clinical experience (range two to 44 years). Most therapists carried out their clinical
practice in institutions and private practices. Fifty percent of the therapists treated only
adult patients, 33.3% treated adults and adolescents, and 16.6% treated only children
and adolescents. 67% had little or no experience in remote psychotherapy prior to the
pandemic. Their stated clinical orientations were psychodynamic (38%), integrative
(29%), cognitive-behavioural (13%), systemic (13%) and others (7%).
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 613
Data collection
Data were collected through audio-recorded, semi-structured, individual interviews
conducted by clinical psychologists, who were trained in this technique. The interviews
were carried out according to a thematic script (Flick, 2014) that began with a broad
question to motivate each participant to speak, and which then continued with an open
exploration towards the development of topics not spontaneously addressed, seeking to
follow the participants’ discursive course by motivating genuine and reflective expres
sion. The thematic script was prepared jointly by the research team in several phases.
The first phase was a broad initial question and exploratory questions on topics of
interest for the research study. The second phase explored the idiomatic and contextual
understanding of each country. Finally, after the first interview, the team made an
adjustment to the script by adding a third phase regarding facilitators and obstacles
(Table 1).
Procedure
Participants of the original quantitative study (Espinosa & Fernández-Alvarez, 2021)
who gave consent to be contacted for future studies were recruited via email. 142
invitations were sent and 78 therapists accepted; from these 78, a sample of 24
participants was selected according to the aforementioned variability criteria. The
interviews were conducted between November 2020 and March 2021.
Data management
This study was approved by the Commission for the Evaluation of Responsible Conduct
in Research of the University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Psychology, in April 2020.
During the entire research process, the confidentiality of the participants — in this case,
the psychotherapists — was maintained. No personal information was requested from
patients seen by the psychotherapists during the pandemic. Interview transcripts were
used for the data analysis, and each participant was identified by a code to avoid
referring to their personal identification data.
Data analysis
Interviews were analysed according to Grounded Theory procedures (Glaser & Strauss,
2017). This method of analysis is based on the concepts of symbolic interactionism
(Blumer, 1982), rooted in the interpretive paradigm, and facilitates analysis of the
subjective processes through which individuals interpret and give meaning to their
experience and actions.
The process began with an analytical reading of the transcripts following the core
themes of the interview, to then move on to the descriptive open coding. Open coding
divides the text into units of meaning labelled as codes with meaning, which are then
arranged into emerging descriptive categories, which in turn are articulated and hier
archically integrated, forming units of greater meaning (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
Connections and interactions between the previously generated categories are subse
quently identified — axial coding — constructing axial phenomena that facilitate a
comprehensive understanding of the interviewed participants’ experiences, assigning
them a name that labels the centrality of the experience (Glaser & Strauss, 2017).
The research team underwent training in Grounded Theory procedures prior to the
analyses carried out for the study. To ensure the quality of the reported results, the open
coding for the first two interviews was carried out by the entire research team, achieving
intersubjective agreements among the researchers about the initial descriptive cate
gories (Flick, 2014). Following this, groups of researchers from different countries were
formed to code the remaining interviews; each group maintained the strategy of
intersubjective agreement between coders. Each small group discussed their codes
and categories with the entire research group on a regular basis, to maintain uniformity
and ensure inter-investigator triangulation, and to meet intersubjectivity criteria of
scientific rigour (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). The categories and descriptions reported in
the axial phenomena presented the highest density (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018); that is,
they provided a broad and detailed description along participants’ different speeches
and therefore contributed significantly to the understanding of the phenomenon being
studied.
Results
The results were organized into three axial phenomena: (a) impact on the therapist; (b)
incorporation of technologies into clinical practice; (c) transformations in the practice
of psychotherapy. Each axial coding was named by paraphrasing a quote that symbo
lized the essence of the phenomenon.
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 615
Figure 1. Impact on the therapist: spiral of uncertainty, oppression and adaptive astonishment.
children, along with the challenge of family life caused by having to share work and
home spaces (‘I would say that it was a drastic and dramatic change. Suddenly there is
my family, three children … suddenly all these activities and things, all inside my house,
while I’m trying to work’, AR22). Feelings associated with grief and the loss of personal
spaces also arose (‘I missed my office terribly, it was my space’, PE10), as well as the loss
of daily routines and pleasures (‘I no longer spend time with my grandchildren, my
swimming’, CL5).
The ways of managing these feelings of displeasure were facilitated, according to the
participants, both by their personal characteristics and by the contextual resources
available to them. Personal characteristics include motivation and curiosity to study
and learn, a proactive attitude in search of practical solutions and the flexibility to adapt
to different situations. Reference was also made to an ethical motivation, associated
with altruism and gratitude, understood as being aware of their privileges when having
to address the adverse situation and having a tenacious attitude to respond to demands
(‘I had to research, read … learn … my patients needed it, we had to find a way to get
through it’, CL12).
Regarding contextual resources, facilitators emerging from the interviews included
being healthy (the therapist themselves and their family), having material resources and
infrastructure (space and privacy) and having certain economic stability. In addition,
the therapists highlighted that their interpersonal networks, especially close friends and
academic ties, collaborated in this adaptation. Self-care activities were also emphasized
as facilitators: physical exercise, cooking, reading, gardening, yoga, among others.
As time during the pandemic passed, participants began to perceive a realistic
acceptance of the situation: ‘You have to adapt, this is the situation and you have to
try to do the best you can and use the different spaces you have’ (CL6). However, they
also experienced profound exhaustion from the intensity of the demand and efforts to
maintain the professional role. This exhaustion is also associated with satisfaction and
appreciation of themselves, in terms of being able to learn from and overcome the
challenges imposed. In the macro-social context, they consider that the conditions
imposed by the pandemic have led to an appreciation of the role of the psychologist
in today’s society (‘We are more visible than we used to be […] mental health is also
more respected and we play a more important role in the population’s health’, CL6).
Figure 2. Incorporation of technologies into clinical practice: ‘I never thought it could be useful …
but it is here to stay’.
Online sessions made me much more tired […] you need so much attention, looking at the
camera, not being distracted, reading their faces, gestures and your patient scrutinising
yours … not to mention if you are rephrasing what they said, and they didn’t hear and you
have to start over (AR23).
When the therapists began to perceive that they were acquiring greater command of
ICTs, they began to feel more confident in this new way of working, which allowed
them to maintain their clinical work. Additionally, when this interlaced with patients’
618 O. Fernández et al.
acceptance and adaptation to this new work method, it began to be positively valued.
This is illustrated in the following paragraph:
At first, some patients said that they did not feel very comfortable, but as we talked, when
you manage to create an adequate bond, you kind of leave the screen behind, and you are
just there with them […] looking into their eyes and trying to maintain that close
ness (EC4).
Furthermore, with the passing of time, participants felt that both they and their patients
experienced the benefit of avoiding travel time, which gave them comfort and allowed
them to better organize their time. Therapists felt satisfaction and appreciation when
they were able to incorporate ICTs into their practice, and for being able to provide
therapy to patients in remote locations, who otherwise would not have had access to the
service.
Additionally, therapists felt in these times of pandemic, the concrete possibility of acces
sing clinical and professional training given from anywhere in the world, which also
favoured a positive attitude to the use of technologies as a way of learning. All this
contributed even more to the appreciation of ICTs as a different means of encounter,
where it is possible to generate learning and changes in people. This is here to stay … The
people who are looking for me, when they live in another city, this is the answer,
professionals who live in big cities can provide people the possibility of accessing quality
health services (CO19).
Figure 3. Transformation of the practice of psychotherapy: ‘water always finds its way’.
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 619
The redefinition of the therapeutic setting is the most evident initial transforma
tion; the usual references of schedules and clinical work spaces were lost, and
therapists, in different ways, had to build a new space that preserves the character
istics of intimacy, trust and stability for clinical work and that at the same time is
flexible in schedules, frequency of sessions and even fees, according to the new
contingencies (‘I have tried to maintain a framework, that is, I ask them not to
change all the time, I am always in the same place, [I ask them] not to move from
one place to another, not to be in the street … to look for a place … in any case
you have to be flexible in all this’, PE22).
The great challenge of redefining the setting has been to guarantee privacy, since
most patients were at home with their families, with few private spaces, making it
difficult for them to express themselves freely and confidently. Patients looked for
creative solutions (car, street, park) to talk in privacy (‘The most complicated are
those who do not live alone and their reason for consultation involves couple or
parental problems’, AR23).
Transformations in the therapeutic relationship are associated with the new digital
setting. The virtual encounter often left out nonverbal registers that limit the encounter
between patient and therapist (‘What I have resented most is the sensory loss with the
patient, the nonverbal and bodily signs, the sensory that goes beyond […] we are no
longer in the same space […]’, MX3). But in turn, the camera and the telephone gave
access to patients and therapists’ private lives, which had not previously been shared,
expanding the exposure given to each (‘the boy showed me his toys, his room, his pet’
CL12). At the same time, in this virtual meeting space, both are equal as visitors, since it
is not the therapist who offers his office as a setting, but rather the therapeutic space is a
new construction (‘We have a virtual field that is neither mine nor the patient’s’, LC5).
In addition, with the introduction of extra-session phone calls and messages, the
frequency of communication increases, generating a feeling of availability and closeness
between patient and therapist.
New themes become a priority in the therapeutic process and overlap with pre
viously existing ones. Problems related to loneliness, fear of getting sick or dying,
financial worries and family tensions emerge or intensify. And many of the anxieties,
fears and problems associated with the pandemic are shared between patient and
therapist, expressed in the following quote:
If you don’t connect with the fear of death in a pandemic, when will you connect? […] I
have shared it with patients, it has been a common concern that we have all had. But it is a
facilitator to talk about it and it is essential and healthy to be able to talk about that fear, to
be able to share it (MX15).
The therapeutic actions or ways of carrying out the therapeutic process were also
adjusted to the new modality. It was necessary to provide more support and contain
ment, to carry out brief, focused therapies. With child patients, it was necessary to
incorporate the use of a shared blackboard for drawing, sharing photos, as well as to
involve parents more during the sessions (‘Parents play a different role now and they
are also getting more involved in the sessions’, CL13).
Finally, participants reported that, despite the modifications imposed by the new
virtual model and the difficulties related to not knowing how to use these technological
620 O. Fernández et al.
tools, the relationship and the therapeutic process advanced, and results were achieved,
which is a positive assessment of this new way of conducing psychotherapy, as reflected
by this therapist:
I was attentive to what the process was like, the continuity, whether it flowed. And it does
flow; it’s like life, like water. When you pour water, despite thousands of obstacles, the
water finds its way. So, I think that communication between people finds its way as best it
can, and well, we have been meeting and it has flowed (PE22).
[The patient] wrote me such a lovely message saying that she feels as though she is now
another person and she thanked me very much for everything she has achieved, so I think
there are several ways of finding your way (EC2).
Discussion
The present study on the experience of conducting psychotherapy during the COVID-
19 pandemic allowed us to analyse reactions and transformations while they were
occurring. Both therapists and their patients, as well as the researchers themselves,
shared their experience of the limitations imposed by physical distancing and confine
ment measures, and of witnessing the transformation of their work and daily practices
(Fernández-Álvarez & Fernández-Álvarez, 2021).
This study tried to capture, from the participants’ perspective, the impact the
contextual conditions caused by the pandemic had on their person and their clinical
practice, identifying personal anxieties, limitations encountered, resources developed
and transformations in the practice of psychotherapy.
The impact of the pandemic on participants’ personal lives was initially experienced
as a crisis, characterized by high family and work demands, in an immediate context of
threat and uncertainty. This is consistent with Brown’s (2020) study, which found that
therapists experienced multiple changes in a short time, which they had to deal with
while managing their own anxieties about the extraordinary situation and its potential
impact on their health and financial security.
What enabled participants to navigate the crisis, and ultimately deploy new
resources, was their self-demand to maintain their practice, along with a flexible
attitude and motivation to learn, which was possible provided basic conditions of
good health, material and social resources, along with self-care activities, were main
tained. Other research studies have conceptualized satisfaction with this adaptive
achievement as ‘pleasant surprises’ during the pandemic (Connolly et al., 2020).
However, the adaptive effort made and the wear and tear associated with the
COVID-19 pandemic have also been reported as unpleasant associated elements
(Mancinelli et al., 2021; Rodríguez-Ceberio et al., 2021).
The results show how this personal experience facilitated the rapid incorporation of
ICTs and the transformation of therapeutic practices. The massive incorporation of
these technologies into their practice even led therapists to believe they would use them
in a post-pandemic context, because they realized they had many benefits, such as
allowing them to transcend barriers such as geographical distance (McBeath et al.,
2020).
The major changes in the participants’ relationship with communication technolo
gies were, then, the acquisition of expertise in their use and the attitudinal change
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 621
regarding their incorporation into psychotherapy. These changes open doors for the
whole tradition of e-mental Health (Lal & Adair, 2014) to have a new opportunity for
development and to be incorporated more daily into therapeutic practice. In addition, it
currently has good empirical support regarding its effectiveness (Andersson & Berger,
2021).
The transformations of the practice of psychotherapy presented in this study concern
the therapeutic setting, the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic process. Our
results show that the very notion of therapeutic setting undergoes a flexibilization, and
in this sense changes the hierarchical place it had — at least in some clinical traditions
— as a facilitator of therapeutic change. Even when therapists tried to maintain a stable
framework, aspects of the therapist’s personal life were made visible to patients.
Therefore, efforts to maintain privacy and confidentiality became highly relevant in
this new context.
The greater visibility of personal contexts also allowed for a greater insight into the
patients’ life contexts, which in turn had an impact on the therapeutic relationship. It
could be argued that this impact strengthens the ‘real relationship’ between patient and
therapist (Gelso, 2014) and possibly even facilitates the transfer of therapeutic learning
to everyday life, a crucial aspect for therapeutic change (Krause et al., 2006). This study
adds relevant content to the co-construction of a virtual field in which — despite the
initial feeling of ‘knowing each other but not meeting in person’ — deep relationships
are built and the three classic elements of the concept of alliance are not negatively
affected: emotional bond, agreement on goals and agreement on tasks (Flückiger et al.,
2018). The pandemic demonstrated that a therapeutic encounter does not necessarily
require an in-person meeting.
Regarding therapeutic interventions, the virtual context implies losses and gains of
information that affect them. There are losses in the non-verbal dimension, especially
regarding body language, but gains in information gained from access to the immediate
context (home, family, etc.). Communication channels are reconfigured, in the sense of
the preponderance of the visual and auditory, to the detriment of other non-verbal cues.
These types of advantages and disadvantages had already been reported by empirical
research (Schuster et al., 2018) and imply a transformation and adaptation of interven
tion strategies. Despite these adjustments, usual interventions prevail, as does therapist
adjustment of their treatment and technique to the personal and historical individuality
of the patient.
The changes that psychotherapy has undergone as a result of the pandemic, together
with the reduction of prejudices towards online therapy (Békés & Aafjes-van Doorn,
2020), pose several challenges for the future, among them the need for a greater
massification of psychotherapy given the high demand observed and the future coex
istence of online and in-person psychotherapy. This opens doors for further technolo
gical developments in remote psychology (e-mental health), i.e., for automated or semi-
automated interventions of massive scope, which will require therapists to continue
learning about technological resources in psychotherapy, to the extent that this subject
could be included in psychotherapy training. In addition, this new context of the
practice of psychotherapy is an invitation to question some certainties about practice,
theory and technique, in order to define essential elements for clinical practice (Hanley,
2021).
622 O. Fernández et al.
Note
1. The participants were named according to their country of origin: AR = Argentina;
CL = Chile; CO = Colombia; EC = Equator; MX = Mexico; PE = Peru. The number
corresponds to the interview identifier.
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 623
de la alianza de trabajo fue buena, considerándola una relación fuerte y real (Aafjes-van
Doorn et al., 2021). Por su parte, la investigación de Mancinelli et al. (2021) mostró en
los psicoterapeutas también una autopercepción positiva acerca de la psicoterapia
remota a pesar de referir sentirse más fatigados, así como percibirse más habladores y
directivos durante las sesiones virtuales que en las presenciales. James et al. (2022) en
un estudio mixto secuencial encontraron que las experiencias de los terapeutas de su
trabajo remoto difieren de la terapia cara a cara. Los terapeutas reportaron que la
terapia a distancia les significaba un incremento en los niveles de involucramiento
(disminución en la capacidad de desconectarse del rol y escasos límites trabajo —
hogar), esto era asociado con emociones no placenteras.
Otras investigaciones longitudinales se han focalizado en describir — en los distintos
momentos de la pandemia — las percepciones y desafíos experimentados por los terapeutas
en su transición de la terapia presencial a la remota. Békés et al. (2021) identificaron cuatro
tipos de retos reportados por los terapeutas de su estudio al inicio de la pandemia: conexión
emocional (sentir conexión con sus pacientes, leer emociones, expresar y sentir empatía),
distracción durante las sesiones (del terapeuta o del paciente), privacidad del paciente
(espacio privado, confidencialidad) y límites del terapeuta (espacio profesional, estableci
miento de límites). Tres meses después, los retos percibidos en tres dominios — conexión
emocional, privacidad del paciente y límites del terapeuta — disminuyeron significativa
mente, mientras que los retos asociados al dominio distracción durante las sesiones
aumentaron. Por su parte, las preocupaciones iniciales de los terapeutas acerca del logro
de la conexión emocional con los pacientes en modalidad online, fueron las que mostraron
mayor nivel predictivo de las actitudes negativas hacia esta modalidad de terapia y su eficacia
percibida después de tres meses, por encima y más allá del efecto de la edad del terapeuta y su
experiencia clínica. Por su parte, Stefan et al. (2021) en un estudio de diseño mixto con tres
mediciones (1 mes de diferencia entre T1 y T2 y 4 meses entre T2 y T3), encontraron que la
calidad de la relación terapéutica percibida desde la perspectiva de los terapeutas pareció
mejorar durante los primeros dos períodos, mientras que mostró un ligero descenso en el
tercer período. A nivel cualitativo, en la primera evaluación se reportaron cambios positivos
y negativos en la relación terapéutica en igual proporción, pero en la evaluación siguiente los
aspectos positivos superaron los negativos. Sin embargo, en la evaluación final, la actitud
positiva previa cambió, reportándose mayores limitaciones en la relación terapéutica. Según
los autores, esto podría indicar un tiempo límite relacionado a la posibilidad de mantener
una relación terapéutica vía remota, especialmente en psicoterapeutas poco entrenados en
esta modalidad. Por otra parte, la sensación de unidad entre paciente — terapia basada en la
experiencia compartida de la pandemia pareció ser importante al comienzo del COVID-19
pero se desvaneció hacia el tiempo de la medición final.
En Iberoamérica, Espinosa y Fernández-Alvarez (2021), realizaron un estudio cuan
titativo transversal con una encuesta online, que incluyó a 3,097 psicoterapeutas ibe
roamericanos de todas las orientaciones teóricas, para estimar el impacto que la
pandemia y el encierro habían tenido en su vida profesional, explorar las actitudes
hacia las tecnologías y su estado emocional. Los principales resultados mostraron que la
reclusión tuvo en el terapeuta un impacto negativo en las dimensiones de estabilidad
económica, la gestión de las actividades profesionales, la fatiga en las sesiones, el
equilibrio emocional y la gestión del tiempo. Además, el uso de las herramientas
tecnológicas en la práctica de la psicoterapia aumentó exponencialmente, en forma
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 625
Método
Esta investigación de carácter cualitativo se guía desde un enfoque constructivista. El
objetivo de este enfoque es describir y comprender los significados que los participantes
dan al fenómeno — experiencia personal y práctica clínica durante la pandemia —
desde la forma más amplia y detallada, abarcando las diferentes subjetividades y
asumiendo que estos significados se construyen en el proceso de las interacciones
interpersonales (Levitt, 2020). También es importante reconocer que desde esta per
spectiva puede haber múltiples versiones válidas de la realidad y que los investigadores
y los participantes co-construyen significados (Charmaz, 2014).
Participantes
En el estudio participaron 24 psicoterapeutas de Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
México y Perú que realizaron psicoterapia no presencial durante la pandemia, y que
fueron parte del estudio cuantitativo asociado (Espinosa & Fernández-Alvarez, 2021).
Como estrategia para acercarse a la pluralidad de las experiencias, la selección de los
informantes buscó la variabilidad máxima (Kleining, 2007), en edad, género, años de
experiencia y grupo etario de los pacientes atendidos. La edad promedio de los
participantes fue de 43.6 años (rango de 25 a 71 años); el 77.7% eran de género
femenino, con un promedio de 23.5 años de experiencia clínica (rango dos a 44
años). La mayoría de los terapeutas ejercían su práctica clínica en instituciones y
consultas privadas. El 50% de los terapeutas atendía sólo pacientes adultos, el 33.3%
adultos y adolescentes, el 16.6% sólo niños y adolescentes. El 67% tenía nula o escasa
experiencia en psicoterapia no presencial previo a la pandemia. Las orientaciones
626 O. Fernández et al.
Recolección de información
La información se recolectó a través de entrevistas individuales semiestructuradas
audiograbadas, realizadas por psicólogos clínicos, quienes fueron entrenados en la
técnica. Las entrevistas fueron realizadas según un guion temático (Flick, 2014) que
se iniciaba con una pregunta amplia para motivar la expresión particular de cada
participante, y que luego continuaba con una exploración abierta orientada hacia el
desarrollo de temas no abordados espontáneamente, buscando seguir el curso discur
sivo de los participantes motivando la expresión genuina y reflexiva. El guion temático
se confeccionó en conjunto por el equipo de investigación en varias fases. Primero, se
discutió la pregunta inicial amplia y las preguntas exploratorias en temas de interés para
la investigación. En un segundo momento se trabajó en la comprensión idiomática y
contextual de cada país. y, finalmente luego de la primera entrevista, el equipo realizó
un ajuste al guion agregando la exploración de facilitadores y obstaculizadores
(Tabla 1).
Procedimiento
Los participantes del estudio cuantitativo (Espinosa & Fernández-Alvarez, 2021) que
habían consentido ser contactados en el futuro para nuevos estudios fueron reclutados
vía correo electrónico. Se enviaron 142 invitaciones y aceptaron 78 terapeutas; dentro
de éstos se eligieron los 24 participantes, buscando los criterios de variabilidad descritos
anteriormente. Las entrevistas fueron videograbadas y realizadas entre noviembre del
2020 y marzo del 2021.
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 627
Manejo de la información
El presente estudio fue aprobado por la Comisión de Evaluación de Conductas
Responsables en Investigación de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad de
Buenos Aires, con fecha abril de 2020. Durante todo el proceso de investigación se
mantuvo la confidencialidad de los datos de los participantes, en este caso los psicote
rapeutas. No se solicitó información personal de los pacientes atendidos por los
psicoterapeutas durante la pandemia. Para el análisis de los datos se usaron las
transcripciones de las entrevistas y se identificó a los participantes con un código,
para evitar hacer referencia a sus datos personales de identificación.
Resultados
Los resultados se organizaron en tres fenómenos axiales: (a) Impacto en el terapeuta; (b)
Incorporación de las tecnologías a la práctica clínica; (c) Transformaciones en el
ejercicio de la psicoterapia. Cada axial fue nombrado, parafraseando alguna cita de
los participantes que simboliza la esencia del fenómeno.
Figura 2. Incorporación de las tecnologías a la práctica clínica: ‘Nunca pensé que podía servir …
pero esto llegó para quedarse’.
Me cansa muchísimo más la sesión online […] cuánto esfuerzo de atención, estar mirando
la cámara, no distraerte, percibir caras, gestos y que él perciba los tuyos … . Ni hablar de si
estás haciendo una reformulación, y no te escuchó y tienes que empezar otra vez (AR23).
Cuando los terapeutas percibieron que iban adquiriendo mayor manejo de las TICs,
fueron sintiendo mayor confianza en esta nueva forma de trabajar que les permitía
mantener el trabajo clínico. Además, si esto interactuaba con la aceptación y adaptación
de los pacientes, se empieza valorar positivamente la experiencia de trabajo en esta
modalidad. Así, se ilustra en este párrafo:
Al principio algunos pacientes dijeron que no se sentían como muy cómodos, pero a
medida que fuimos charlando, cuando ya logras entrar en un vínculo adecuado ya como
que te sales de la misma pantalla y sólo estás ahí […] mirarle a las personas a los ojos y
tratar de mantener esa cercanía (EC4).
A la vez, con el paso del tiempo, los participantes percibieron que tanto ellos como sus
pacientes experimentaron el beneficio de evitar los tiempos de traslados a los lugares de
atención, lo que les daba comodidad y les permitía una mejor organización de su
tiempo. También se sintió satisfacción y valoración por lograr incorporar las TICs a la
psicoterapia, y por poder brindar terapia a pacientes en lugares remotos, que de no ser
por este medio no hubieran tenido acceso al servicio.
Por otra parte, los terapeutas sintieron en estos tiempos de pandemia, la posibilidad
concreta de acceder a formación clínica y profesional impartida desde cualquier lugar
del mundo, lo que también favoreció una actitud positiva al uso de estos medios como
formas de aprender. Todo esto contribuyó aún más a la valoración de las TICs como un
medio de encuentro diferente, donde es posible generar aprendizajes y cambios en las
personas.
Esto llegó para quedarse … Las personas que me buscan, que son como de otras
poblaciones, esta es la respuesta para que los profesionales que estamos en las grandes
urbes le demos la posibilidad a las personas de acceder a servicios de salud de calidad
(CO19).
Figura 3. Transformación del ejercicio de la psicoterapia: ‘El agua siempre encuentra su camino’.
no cambian todo el rato, yo siempre estoy en el mismo sitio, [yo les pido]que no se
muevan de lugar, que no estén en la calle … que busquen un sitio … de todas maneras
tienes que tener una flexibilidad en todo esto’, PE22). El gran desafío de la redefinición
del encuadre ha sido garantizar la privacidad, ya que la mayoría de los pacientes estaban
en sus casas con su familia, con escasos espacios privados, dificultando la expresión
libre y confiada. Los pacientes buscaron soluciones creativas (auto, calle, plaza), para
conversar con privacidad (‘Lo más complicado son los que no viven solos y su motivo
de consulta involucra problemas de pareja o con los padres’, AR23).
Las transformaciones en la relación terapéutica son asociadas al nuevo encuadre
digital. El encuentro virtual con frecuencia dejaba afuera registros no verbales que
limitan el encuentro entre paciente y terapeuta (‘Lo que más he resentido es la
pérdida sensorial con el paciente, los signos no verbales y corporales, lo sensorial que
va más allá […] ya no estamos en el mismo espacio’, MX3). Pero a su vez, la cámara y el
teléfono fueron dando acceso a aspectos de la vida privada de pacientes y terapeutas,
antes no compartidos, ampliando el nivel de exposición de cada uno (‘el niño me
mostraba sus juguetes, su pieza, su mascota’ CL12). A su vez, en este espacio de
encuentro virtual ambos se igualan como visitantes, ya que no es el terapeuta quien
ofrece su consultorio como escenario, sino que el espacio terapéutico es una nueva
construcción (‘tenemos un campo virtual que no es ni mío ni del paciente’, CL5).
Además, con la introducción de las llamadas y mensajes telefónicos extra-sesión
aumenta la frecuencia de comunicación, generando la sensación de disponibilidad y
de cercanía entre paciente y terapeuta.
Nuevas temáticas se vuelven prioritarias en el proceso terapéutico y se superponen
con las anteriores. Irrumpen o se intensifican problemáticas relativas a la soledad, el
temor a enfermarse o morir; las preocupaciones económicas y las tensiones familiares.
A la vez, muchas de estas ansiedades, temores y problemas asociadas con la experiencia
de pandemia son compartidas entre paciente y terapeuta; así se expresa en esta cita:
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 633
Discusión
El presente estudio sobre la experiencia de realizar psicoterapia durante la pandemia
por COVID-19 permitió aprehender reacciones y transformaciones mientras éstas
ocurrían. Tanto terapeutas como sus pacientes, así como los mismos investigadores,
compartían la condición de experimentar las limitaciones impuestas por las medidas de
distanciamiento físico y confinamiento y de ser testigos de la transformación de sus
prácticas laborales y cotidianas (Fernández-Álvarez & Fernández-Álvarez, 2021).
A lo largo de este trabajo intentamos captar, desde la perspectiva de los participantes,
el impacto de la condición contextual de pandemia sobre su persona y su práctica
clínica, identificando ansiedades personales, limitaciones encontradas, recursos desa
rrollados, y las transformaciones en el ejercicio de la psicoterapia.
El impacto de la pandemia en la vida personal de los participantes se vivió inicial
mente como una crisis, caracterizada por altas demandas a nivel familiar y laboral, en
un contexto inmediato de amenaza e incertidumbre. Esto es concordante con el estudio
de Brown (2020), que plantea que en poco tiempo los terapeutas vivieron múltiples
cambios, mientras manejaban sus propias ansiedades sobre la situación extraordinaria y
su impacto potencial en su salud y su seguridad financiera.
Lo que permitió a los participantes transitar la crisis, y finalmente desplegar nuevos
recursos, fue su autoexigencia de mantener su práctica, junto con una actitud flexible y
motivación por aprender, lo que fue posible en tanto se mantuvieran condiciones
634 O. Fernández et al.
básicas de buena salud, recursos materiales y sociales, junto con actividades de auto
cuidado. En algunas investigaciones ha sido conceptualizado la satisfacción por este
logro adaptativo como las ‘sorpresas placenteras’ durante la pandemia (Connolly et al.,
2020). Sin embargo, el esfuerzo adaptativo desplegado y el desgaste asociado por la
extensión de la pandemia también han sido reportados como elementos asociados poco
placenteros (Mancinelli et al., 2021; Rodríguez-Ceberio et al., 2021).
Los resultados muestran cómo esta experiencia personal hizo de facilitador de la
rápida incorporación de las TICs y de la transformación de las prácticas terapéuticas. La
incorporación masiva de estas tecnologías a las prácticas ha llevado a los terapeutas
incluso a proyectar la mantención de su uso hacia un contexto post-pandémico, porque
habían aprendido de sus virtudes, como por ejemplo que les permitía trascender
barreras como la distancia geográfica (McBeath et al., 2020).
Los mayores cambios en la relación de los participantes con las tecnologías de
comunicación fueron, entonces, la adquisición de experticia en su utilización y el
cambio actitudinal frente a su incorporación a la psicoterapia. Estos cambios abren
puertas a que toda la tradición de E-mental Health (Lal & Adair, 2014) tenga una nueva
oportunidad de desarrollo y se incorpore más cotidianamente a la práctica terapéutica.
A su favor está el hecho que cuenta actualmente con un buen respaldo empírico en
cuanto a su efectividad (Andersson & Berger, 2021).
Las transformaciones del ejercicio de la psicoterapia presentadas en este estudio
competen al encuadre, la relación y el proceso terapéuticos. Los resultados muestran
que la misma noción de encuadre terapéutico sufre una flexibilización y en ese sentido
cambia el lugar jerárquico que tenía — al menos en algunas tradiciones clínicas —
como facilitador del cambio terapéutico. Aún cuando los terapeutas intentaban man
tener un encuadre estable, se hacían visibles para los pacientes aspectos de la vida
personal del terapeuta. Por lo mismo, los esfuerzos por cuidar la privacidad y con
fidencialidad cobraron una gran relevancia en este nuevo contexto.
La mayor visibilidad de los contextos personales también permitió tener una mayor
percepción de los contextos de vida de los pacientes, lo que a su vez tenía un impacto en
la relación terapéutica. Se puede hipotetizar que este hecho fortalece la ‘relación real’
entre paciente y terapeuta (Gelso, 2014) y posiblemente incluso facilite la transferencia
de los aprendizajes terapéuticos a la vida cotidiana, aspecto crucial para el cambio
terapéutico (Krause et al., 2006). Este estudio agrega contenidos relevantes sobre la co-
construcción de un campo virtual, en el que a pesar de la sensación inicial de
‘conocerse, pero no conocerse presencialmente’ se construyen relaciones profundas y
no se ven afectados negativamente los tres elementos clásicos del concepto de alianza:
vínculo emocional, acuerdo en metas y acuerdo en tareas (Flückiger et al., 2018). La
pandemia demostró que el encuentro terapéutico no necesariamente requiere del
encuentro presencial.
En cuanto a las intervenciones terapéuticas, el contexto virtual implica pérdidas y
ganancias de información que inciden en ellas. Hay pérdidas en la dimensión no verbal,
sobre todo en lo corporal, pero ganancia de información del contexto inmediato (casa,
familia, etc.). Se reconfiguran los canales de comunicación, en el sentido de la pre
ponderancia de lo visual y auditivo, en desmedro de otras claves no verbales. Este tipo
de ventajas y desventajas ya habían sido reportadas por la investigación empírica
(Schuster et al., 2018) e implican una transformación y adaptación de las estrategias
Latin American therapists during pandemic COVID-19 / Terapeutas latinoamericanos durante la pandemia COVID-19 635
Nota
1. Se nombraron a los participantes de acuerdo a su país de procedencia: AR = Argentina; CL =
Chile; CO = Colombia; EC = Ecuador; MX = México; PE = Perú. El número corresponde al
identificador de la entrevista.
636 O. Fernández et al.
Acknowledgements / Agradecimientos
This work was funded by ANID – Millennium Science Initiative Program / Millennium Institute
for Research on Depression and Personality-MIDAP ICS13_005. / Este trabajo fue financiado por
ANID – Programa Iniciativa Científica Milenio / Instituto Milenio para la Investigación en
Depresión y Personalidad-MIDAP ICS13_005.
ORCID
Olga Fernández http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3936-6021
Clara Paz http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1106-9567
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