Sonia Kahn | The George Washington University (original) (raw)
I am a clinician in private practice clinician in Arlington, VA. Additionally, I hold a clinical faculty position at the George Washington University Professional Psychology Program, where I supervise doctoral students learning to conduct psychotherapy (individual and group) and psychological assessment.
Address: Washington, D.C.
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Papers by Sonia Kahn
Psychotherapy, Jun 2013
The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ prof... more The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ professional development, and it is a frequent area of training-focused research. The current study explored how 57 training therapists’ adult romantic attachments relate to the attachment to the supervisor and the supervisory working alliance. Additionally, we explored how both adult attachment and supervisory attachment relate to trainees’ perceptions of their counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Results revealed that therapists with higher levels of fearful attachment to the supervisors and avoidant attachment in adult romantic relationships had less perceived CSE. Hierarchical regression revealed that it was the avoidant adult romantic attachment and the supervisory working alliance that accounted for the most significant variance in CSE, not the attachment to the supervisor. Path analysis using structural equation modeling was used to explore both the direct and indirect paths to CSE. When all variables were explored together, only the path from romantic attachment avoidance to fearful attachment to the supervisor was significant. Adult romantic attachment no longer directly related to CSE when including all the variables in the model. Implications of the findings will be discussed with regard to future research that is needed, the use of attachment-based supervisory interventions, and the application of the findings in clinical training.
The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ prof... more The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ professional
development, and it is a frequent area of training-focused research. The current study explored how 57
training therapists’ adult romantic attachments relate to the attachment to the supervisor and the
supervisory working alliance. Additionally, we explored how both adult attachment and supervisory
attachment relate to trainees’ perceptions of their counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Results revealed that
therapists with higher levels of fearful attachment to the supervisors and avoidant attachment in adult romantic
relationships had less perceived CSE. Hierarchical regression revealed that it was the avoidant adult
romantic attachment and the supervisory working alliance that accounted for the most significant
variance in CSE, not the attachment to the supervisor. Path analysis using structural equation modeling
was used to explore both the direct and indirect paths to CSE. When all variables were explored together,
only the path from romantic attachment avoidance to fearful attachment to the supervisor was significant.
Adult romantic attachment no longer directly related to CSE when including all the variables in the
model. Implications of the findings will be discussed with regard to future research that is needed, the
use of attachment-based supervisory interventions, and the application of the findings in clinical training.
Conference Presentations by Sonia Kahn
For individuals who experienced sexual abuse as children, the development of a healthy ego is thw... more For individuals who experienced sexual abuse as children, the development of a healthy ego is thwarted in complex ways, often resulting in emotional and interpersonal difficulties that can be investigated in therapy. For the adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse focused on in this paper, the compulsively repeated compromise formations that serve to resolve their trauma-induced conflicts, including criminal behaviors and dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, that often bring them to treatment. Additionally, these unresolved conflicts compromise the individual’s superego functioning while promoting an unconscious fantasy that restitution for their pain is both possible and capable of undoing the past. The result is a personality organized around compensation fantasies that drive entitled behaviors, including demands for special treatment from others and society, as a whole. In the therapy relationship, the patient’s concurrent demands for reparations and relief from their suffering trigger intense of countertransferential responses in the therapist. Given the strength of these conflicts and the emotions they trigger, the boundaries of the therapy relationship become ripe for enactment. A case example will be used to illustrate these points.
Psychotherapy, Jun 2013
The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ prof... more The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ professional development, and it is a frequent area of training-focused research. The current study explored how 57 training therapists’ adult romantic attachments relate to the attachment to the supervisor and the supervisory working alliance. Additionally, we explored how both adult attachment and supervisory attachment relate to trainees’ perceptions of their counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Results revealed that therapists with higher levels of fearful attachment to the supervisors and avoidant attachment in adult romantic relationships had less perceived CSE. Hierarchical regression revealed that it was the avoidant adult romantic attachment and the supervisory working alliance that accounted for the most significant variance in CSE, not the attachment to the supervisor. Path analysis using structural equation modeling was used to explore both the direct and indirect paths to CSE. When all variables were explored together, only the path from romantic attachment avoidance to fearful attachment to the supervisor was significant. Adult romantic attachment no longer directly related to CSE when including all the variables in the model. Implications of the findings will be discussed with regard to future research that is needed, the use of attachment-based supervisory interventions, and the application of the findings in clinical training.
The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ prof... more The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists’ professional
development, and it is a frequent area of training-focused research. The current study explored how 57
training therapists’ adult romantic attachments relate to the attachment to the supervisor and the
supervisory working alliance. Additionally, we explored how both adult attachment and supervisory
attachment relate to trainees’ perceptions of their counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Results revealed that
therapists with higher levels of fearful attachment to the supervisors and avoidant attachment in adult romantic
relationships had less perceived CSE. Hierarchical regression revealed that it was the avoidant adult
romantic attachment and the supervisory working alliance that accounted for the most significant
variance in CSE, not the attachment to the supervisor. Path analysis using structural equation modeling
was used to explore both the direct and indirect paths to CSE. When all variables were explored together,
only the path from romantic attachment avoidance to fearful attachment to the supervisor was significant.
Adult romantic attachment no longer directly related to CSE when including all the variables in the
model. Implications of the findings will be discussed with regard to future research that is needed, the
use of attachment-based supervisory interventions, and the application of the findings in clinical training.
For individuals who experienced sexual abuse as children, the development of a healthy ego is thw... more For individuals who experienced sexual abuse as children, the development of a healthy ego is thwarted in complex ways, often resulting in emotional and interpersonal difficulties that can be investigated in therapy. For the adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse focused on in this paper, the compulsively repeated compromise formations that serve to resolve their trauma-induced conflicts, including criminal behaviors and dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, that often bring them to treatment. Additionally, these unresolved conflicts compromise the individual’s superego functioning while promoting an unconscious fantasy that restitution for their pain is both possible and capable of undoing the past. The result is a personality organized around compensation fantasies that drive entitled behaviors, including demands for special treatment from others and society, as a whole. In the therapy relationship, the patient’s concurrent demands for reparations and relief from their suffering trigger intense of countertransferential responses in the therapist. Given the strength of these conflicts and the emotions they trigger, the boundaries of the therapy relationship become ripe for enactment. A case example will be used to illustrate these points.