Clients' experience of bodywork psychotherapy

One-hundred and fifty ex-clients of 17 Energy Stream Psychotherapists were sent a questionnaire about their experience of their therapy. Sixty-eight clients completed the questionnaire. Of these 77% were highly satisfied or satisfied with their therapy. The frequency of use of some key Reichian psychotherapy techniques was explored. They were found to be used relatively frequently with at least 75% of the clients and rated as helpful by most clients. Also investigated were Rogers' core conditions, which were found not to be present as often as expected. The possible impact of transference on this is discussed. Some non-specific factors such as feeling listened to, or being given feedback, were generally found to be present and valued. Respondents also answered various qualitative questions about their experience of the therapy, including being asked to provide a metaphor for it. What emerges is a picture of an articulate, informed group of therapy consumers often with previous and subsequent experience of therapy. The questionnaire, which combines a mixture of quantitative and qualitative items, can be used with suitable modification to explore other clients' experience of bodywork psychotherapy.     

Coming to terms: Client subjective experience of ending psychotherapy

How do clients consider their own contribution and that of their therapist in the last phase of therapy when they are moving toward the end? Thirty-seven clients who had received therapy from highly experienced clinicians were interviewed. Since the time for ending had not been decided at the onset, clients in both short- and long-term therapies were included. Thematic case-by-case analyses were carried out. Clients actively engaged in looking back and looking ahead, as means of reflecting on their capability to handle issues on their own. The majority of clients were satisfied with what they perceived as a reciprocal engagement that enabled them to come to terms with emotionally charged issues in life and in therapy. For some clients unresolved issues remained: wondering whether a therapist with another approach could have helped more; feeling pushed away by the therapist; having to take the lead in ending therapy; the fear of being an “unworthy” client; or wanting to end without the therapist’s approval. Coming to terms with the ending of therapy was highly personally meaningful and loaded with affective tensions, in ways that were not always shared with their therapist.     

Analysis and psychotherapy by telephone: twenty years of clinical experience

Psychoanalysis via telephone is becoming increasingly prevalent while remaining an area of comparatively little study. The author's early telephone treatment of a series of patients living some distance away or engaged in business travel, and his subsequent telephone treatment of nine analytic and five psychotherapy patients following his own geographic move, are discussed in detail. The mechanics of beginning and carrying out such treatment are examined. The theoretical implications of the shift to the telephone and the ambivalence with which it is often met by clinicians are also explored. The role of nonverbal communication in both in-person and telephone analysis is considered, as is the concept of the analytic office as a literal space and a psychological container. Suggestions for future research are advanced.     

Affective structure,measurement invariance,and reliability across different experience sampling protocols

While affect is frequently measured with experience sampling methodology (ESM), the affective structure at the between- and within-person level has not been thoroughly investigated. We investigated the affective structure at the between- and within-person level, its invariance across different ESM protocols, and its reliability. Participants (N = 147) were randomly assigned to receive either a 30 or 60 item questionnaire three, six, or nine times per day, resulting in 72–75 participants per questionnaire length and 48–50 participants per sampling frequency. Momentary affect was assessed with 8 or 18 items. At both levels, a structure with two correlated factors showed the best fit compared to an orthogonal and a unidimensional model. A structure with additional freed residual correlations was invariant across protocols at the within-person level and showed high reliability. We observed indications of a more discrete affective structure within than between persons.     

Facilitating the client's experience of relational depth in counselling and psychotherapy: A thematic review

Aim

There is increasing interest in relational depth and its relevance and benefits for clients receiving therapy in a number of different therapeutic orientations. This research set out to draw together the available evidence from a wide range of therapies about clients' experiences of relational depth. The aim was to identify approaches that create the conditions where relational depth is more likely to be facilitated. The research focused on clients' views, given the increasing emphasis on their experiences in therapy.

Methodology

A systematic search of papers published in English between January 1996 and September 2022 was conducted using EBSCO Host, Google Scholar and citation chaining. Twenty-seven papers met the inclusion criteria, and a thematic analysis was conducted on these papers.

Findings

Six themes were identified: (1) establishing dialogue with the client's inner world, (2) working with attachment in therapy, (3) responding sensitively to the client's beliefs and values, (4) deepening the client's understanding of the therapist, (5) addressing ruptures in therapy and (6) the client's role in meeting at relational depth.

Conclusion

Facilitating the client's experience of relational depth can support and enhance many aspects of therapeutic practice and in itself may contribute to healing. Therapists who offer warmth and genuine engagement are more able to build confidence and trust, as long as these conditions are received by their clients. It is the clients who ultimately decide whether or not to share their deepest feelings.     

A qualitative meta-synthesis on the experience of psychotherapy for deaf and hard-of-hearing people

A review was conducted to examine the experiences that affect the therapeutic relationship when a person who is deaf or hard-of-hearing meets with a therapist. Electronic databases were searched using keywords and 10 qualitative articles were retrieved that met the inclusion criteria. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted on the articles, including appraisal, comparison, and synthesis of findings. The results of the synthesis highlighted seven areas where the therapeutic relationship is challenged, including issues which occur before and during psychotherapy. The findings of the review are discussed in the context of the articles’ limitations. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of clinical practice, future research, and current models in psychology which are based on hearing participants.     

Affective atmospheres

In this paper I reflect on the concept of affective atmospheres in the context of the distinction between affect and emotion that has emerged in recent work on emotion, space and society. The concept of atmosphere is interesting because it holds a series of opposites -- presence and absence, materiality and ideality, definite and indefinite, singularity and generality -- in a relation of tension. To develop this account of atmosphere I juxtapose Marx's materialist imagination with a phenomenology attentive to singular affective qualities. By invoking a material imagination based on the movement and lightness of air, we learn from the former about the turbulence of atmospheres and their indeterminate quality. From the latter, we learn that atmospheres are singular affective qualities that emanate from but exceed the assembling of bodies. As such, to attend to affective atmospheres is to learn to be affected by the ambiguities of affect/emotion, by that which is determinate and indeterminate, present and absent, singular and vague.     

Affective computing

by Rosalind Picard, MIT Press, 1997. $27.50 (xii+292 pages) ISBN 0 262 16170 2.