"It's both a strength and a drawback." How therapists' personal qualities are experienced in their professional work.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about how the integration of personal and professional experiences affects therapeutic work.

METHOD: Therapists (N = 14) who had been recommended by their leaders at their individual workplaces were interviewed twice with semi-structured qualitative interviews, which were then subjected to thematic and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

RESULTS: All the therapists in the sample described their personal qualities as an experienced tension between their personal strengths and vulnerabilities in the therapeutic setting. This tension came to expression through four subordinate themes: (a) The tension between perceiving oneself as a helper while dealing with one's own needs for attention and care; (b) The tension between the ability for embodied listening to the patient while tuning into oneself; (c) The tension between staying present while handling aggression and rejection from clients; and (d) The tension in striving for a constructive balance between closeness and distance.

CONCLUSION: The results point to ways in which the personal selves of the therapists may affect their professional role performance. Drawing upon previous research and literature on the topic, the paper discusses how therapists' personal qualities are experienced as affecting their work and suggests several implications for psychotherapy training and practice.