Information for clients

Your therapist or the intake team has presented you with a development profile. Here is a brief explanation of what this means and what you can expect.

What does creating the Developmental Profile mean for you?

In order to be able to make the Developmental Profile, you will be interviewed. This interview usually requires 2 or 3 one-hour sessions. You will be asked about important aspects and events in your life such as your lifestyle, relationships, education or work, other contacts, hobbies and stressful events in the past 10 years. Based on these questions, you are asked to share how you usually behave in such situations, how you react, what you feel and think about them, and how you cope with stressful events.

What information does the Developmental Profile provide about you?

Patterns can be derived from the answers you give. These patterns are shown in a diagram. This profile shows how you have developed in different areas of life. For example, in the way you maintain contact with others, in your needs or in your way of responding to problems.

The Developmental Profile is based on developmental and life stage psychology. Everyone goes through a developmental path in their life from baby to old age, not only physically, but also psychologically. Certain childhood traits or patterns remain in each of us, even through adult life. However, when these prove to be too dominant, these childhood behavior patterns can become burdensome, as they no longer fit with our functioning in adulthood.

The Developmental Profile maps your adult pattern of functioning and your ‘child patterns’, as well as the relationship between them. This presents a visual medium reflecting your strengths, but also your vulnerabilities. Based on this strength-weakness analysis, you will identify themes and the goal of the treatment together with your practitioner. During the course of therapy, on the basis of your Developmental Profile, you and your therapist can evaluate to what extent the goals have been achieved.

You cannot deduce from the Developmental Profile why your development has progressed in a certain way or what the causes are of your psychological issues.

Your Developmental Profile will be presented in the form of a written report and will be added to your file. You will receive a copy of this written report if you wish.