Kva typar mellom­menneskelege situasjonar opplever norske psykologar oftast og som mest krevjande?

Psychotherapy research has demonstrated the significance of therapists’ interpersonal skills for outcome. This raises the question of what interpersonal situations psychologists perceive to be challenging and how we can train psychologists to master such situations. A web-based questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of Norwegian psychologists, mapping frequency and perceived demand of potentially challenging interpersonal situations in therapy. The results showed that suicidality was perceived as the most demanding situation, while clients expressing intense emotions was the most commonly encountered situation. Three of the most demanding situations (suicidality, difficulty establishing common focus, and passive clients) were among the most commonly encountered situations. While work context (specialized mental health care or not) was associated with significantly higher frequency of the most common situations, work context had no impact on perceived difficulty of situations. Keywords: Interpersonal skills; therapist development; suicidality; difficult clinical encounters; therapist training