Psychotherapy Process Analysis: Application of the Qualitative Research Methods to Psychotherapy Research

This article focused on discourse, narrative and conversational analysis to investigate the change of meaning in psychotherapy research. Psychotherapy process research was reviewed based on different epistemological stances that accepted and challenged psychotherapeutic assumptions. In this regard, the psychotherapy research concerning client’s problems, emotions, cognitive processes; psychotherapy research focusing on therapeutic interaction, and psychotherapy research investigating cultural context, power relations and ideology were analyzed. Lastly, ethical dilemmas and quality of research in psychotherapy research were discussed