My research in psychotherapy

At Sigmund Freud University, in collaboration with Professor Omar Gelo, I began conducting interdisciplinary research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy. After nearly ten years of systematically examining the major psychotherapeutic schools and methods that have shaped the further development of psychotherapy—from psychoanalysis and cognitive-behavioral therapy to psychotraumatology, as well as humanistic, existential, and systemic approaches—we identified key principles of safety that are present across therapeutic modalities but had not yet been clearly named or systematically described.

These studies focus on how safety influences the effectiveness of psychotherapy across different therapeutic approaches. The findings suggest that the traditional view of safety as a stable, unchanging, and ideal state is incomplete. The research shows that the kind of safety that fosters psychotherapeutic change is primarily dynamic and adaptive—it shifts depending on the situation, the client, and the phase of therapy. Its effectiveness depends on how it is modulated—that is, the intensity, pace, and duration with which it is provided at a given moment.

Based on these findings, I have identified several key functions of safety that contribute to psychotherapeutic progress—for instance, protection and defense, regeneration and recovery, support for exploration and openness to the unknown, regulation and risk management, as well as the processing and consolidation of new experiences. The published studies explore in greater detail how and when to modulate safety to optimally support the therapeutic process.

These insights are valuable not only for therapists who want to better understand how safety affects the therapeutic process, but also for clients, who can use this understanding to gain deeper insight into their own experiences in therapy. The research findings were published in Clinical Neuropsychiatry (ranked in the first quartile – Q1) and are indexed in databases such as PubMed, APA PsycNet, and the Harvard University database, confirming their academic quality and contribution to the psychotherapy community.

The research on the dynamics of safety and its impact on psychotherapeutic progress continues to fascinate me. It helps me better integrate knowledge from various therapeutic methods into clinical practice. Some of these articles can be read here:

• The Functions of Safety in Psychotherapy: An Integrative Theoretical Perspective Across Therapeutic Schools;
• The Role of Safety in Change-Promoting Therapeutic Relationships: An Integrative Relational Approach