Why Reflective Practice is Central to Psychotherapists’ Personal and Professional Development

Reflective Practice (RP) is widely regarded as a cornerstone of psychotherapy training, supervision, and continuing professional development. Yet, despite its prominence across psychotherapeutic traditions, it remains conceptually vague and empirically contested. Recent critiques from basic psychological science (e.g., Lilienfeld & Basterfield, 2020) have argued that reflection may amplify cognitive bias and foster illusions of insight rather than improve clinical judgment. We argue that these criticisms carry weight precisely because the field has often failed to clearly define what RP is, ho