Would you be interested in discussing your experience of the ending of your Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT)?

What is this research about?

• I am Peter Lydon, a final year clinical psychology trainee from Lancaster University. I am conducting a research project as part of my training, supervised by Dr. Ian smith (Clinical psychologist, Lancaster doctorate of clinical psychology).

-I’m carrying out interviews to hear about how people experience the ending of therapy, specifically, those who have had cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). Very little research asks individualsthemselves about their experience of therapy. This is particularly the case when it comes to research on ending therapy, even though this can be a really important part of the whole experience.

-I want to hear directly from individuals who have had CAT, to learn from their experience and hopefully to share this knowledge widely with therapists and trainees. I hope this will benefit people who have this therapy in the future.

What would taking part involve?

• I will come to meet you for an informal interview probably lasting around 1 hour. This would be at a place near you, e.g. a private room at a GP surgery or library(travelling expenses can be reimbursed). Or if you prefer I can come to your own home.

• You wouldn’t have to talk about anything you didn’t want to, and we could pause or end the interview at any time you wished to. It would be audio-recorded, and then I would type up the interview along with a number of other interviews from other people who had also talked about their experience of ending CAT. I will analyse the interviews to look for common themes and important messages across peoples’ experience.

• I will send you a summary of the results after my report has been submitted, and your identity will not be made known to anybody else.

So, I would really like to hear from you if:

• You are aged 18+, and had at least 12 sessions of CAT with a trained CAT therapist.

• You had your last main therapy session at least 6 months ago, but not longer than 2 years ago (but you could still have follow up sessions going on).

• You went to therapy for help with any problem, diagnosis or issue.

• You had a recognised ending session, and not an unplanned or abrupt end.

• You would be willing to spend some time talking about how you found the experience of ending, including any feelings (good or bad) which it brought up, what was helpful and unhelpful, and things that mattered to you about the ending of your therapy.

Thank you very much for reading this information. If you are interested, or would like more detailed information, or to speak to me about anything to do with the study, I’d be really happy to hear from youup until around May 2013:

Telephone or text: 07852516812E-mail: P.Lydon@lancaster.ac.uk

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