상담자 발달수준이 심리적 소진에 미치는 영향에 대한 정신화의 매개효과

Mediating Effect of Mentalization on the Influence of Counselor’s Developmemtal Status on Psychological Burnout

Objective: Counselors who experience psychological burnout have difficulties developing and maintaining effective therapeutic relationships as a result of diminished empathy, respect, and positive feelings toward the client. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between counselor’s developmental status, mentalization, psychological burnout and the mediating effects of mentalization on the relationship between counselor’s developmental status to alleviate psychological burnout. Methods: An online self-report survey was conducted on 177 children and adolescent counselors. Data were analyzed based on mediating effects between variables using SPSS Process Macro model 4. Results: First, the overall mentalizing competency completely mediated the relationship between counselor’s developmental status and psychological burnout. Second, the reflection of the self and others and conviction about others’ minds were not significantly correlated with counselor’s developmental status and psychological burnout. However, failure of affect recognition and rigid thinking partially mediated the relationship between counselor’s developmental status and psychological burnout. Conclusions: This study newly discovers the impact of mentalizing competency- a reflective function- in addition to counselor’s developmental status in reducing counselors’ psychological burnout. The mature mentalizing competency is cultivated by affect recognition and flexible thinking and it mitigates psychological burnout.