Discursive representations of psychotherapy in online self-descriptions of therapists: A content analysis

Abstract

This study examines the discursive representation of psychotherapy in online self-descriptions of individuals offering psychotherapeutic services. A combination of qualitative discourse analysis and quantitative content analysis was applied to a sample of 267 texts collected from websites advertising psychotherapy services. The analysis was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, dominant discursive patterns were identified inductively, resulting in four categories: clinical, relational-experiential, humanistic-developmental, and indeterminate discourse. In the second phase, the texts were coded using indicators derived from the American Psychological Association's definition of psychotherapy in order to assess the extent to which self-presentations correspond to a professional normative framework. The results indicate a strong predominance of relational-experiential discourse (76%), while explicitly clinical representations of psychotherapy appear only rarely. When analyzed using APA indicators, the majority of self-descriptions were classified as non-clinical. At the same time, many texts include references to psychological symptoms and distress, creating a discursive tension between clinical terminology and predominantly non-clinical frameworks of presentation. These findings suggest that online representations of psychotherapy frequently combine elements of personal development narratives with references to mental health difficulties. The results are discussed in relation to broader cultural transformations in the public understanding of psychotherapy and to the institutional context in which psychotherapy training and practice remain weakly regulated.