[Dealing with Lived Crisis Experience During Self-Experience: A Standardized Survey in Psychiatric Hospitals in Berlin and Brandenburg]. / Umgang mit eigenen Krisenerfahrungen in der Selbsterfahrung: Eine standardisierte Befragung in psychiatrischen Einrichtungen in Berlin und Brandenburg.

OBJECTIVE: The current study follows the question if psychotherapists with lived experiences of crisis and treatment address these experiences during their processes of self-experience. Further, the conceptual differentiation between self-experience and psychotherapy of this group of staff is explored. METHODS: 108 professionals with psychotherapeutic qualification were surveyed on their training self-experience. Relationships between processing of crisis experiences, crises frequency, and experienced benefit were analyzed using correlation analyses. Conceptual differences between self-experience and psychotherapy were gauged via nine content categories whose importance for self-experience and psychotherapy were rated by the participants. The means of these ratings were compared via t-test. RESULTS: Most participants reported that they had used their self-experience to process lived crisis experiences, and that they benefited from their self-experience, with processing and benefit being correlated significantly and positively. Conceptual differentiation of the two formats appeared to be complex. Participants ascribed biographical and personal categories rather to psychotherapy, and professional categories to self-experience. DISCUSSION: Given the prevalence of stigmatization towards individuals with mental health problems, it was surprising that most of the participants were able to address and process their lived experiences during their self-experience. It was surprising too that personal factors were ascribed to psychotherapy rather than self-experience, as the major importance of the therapeutic relationship and, by extension, personality development is well-known. CONCLUSION: Training self-experience should be a stigma-free setting, where future therapists are able to address their biographical burdens freely and thereby develop their personalities.

[Disclosure of Own Crisis And Treatment Experiences By Staff Of Psychiatric Institutions In BerLin And Brandenburg - An Underused Resource For Reducing Stigma?] / Offenlegung eigener Krisen- und Behandlungserfahrungen von Mitarbeitenden psychiatrischer Einrichtungen in Berlin und Brandenburg ­ eine ungenutzte Ressource zum Abbau von Stigma?

AIM: This article is part of the EKB-study which explores lived crisis and treatment experiences of mental health professionals in Berlin and Brandenburg. It addresses the disclosure of mental health workers' lived experiences in their workplace. METHOD: An online survey was conducted among 182 mental health professionals, containing questions on disclosure of lived experiences. Data were analyzed descriptively and analytically. RESULTS: Participants reported disclosure mainly to supervisors and affiliated colleagues. Experiences were mostly positive, with severe negative exceptions. Central motives against disclosure were fear of vulnerability, fear of compromising professional identity, and shame. CONCLUSIONS: Disclosure of lived crisis experiences is not always the proper strategy for mental health professionals. Disclosure may be a means of reducing public and internalized stigma.