Meaning of therapy session11/27/2023 ![]() ![]() For example, Psychodynamic therapies recognize in-depth emotional exploration as essential ( Diener et al., 2007 Subic-Wrana et al., 2016), contemporary third-wave Cognitive-behavioral therapies emphasize awareness and acceptance of emotions ( Sloan and Kring, 2007), and Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) argues that clients need to get in touch with their core maladaptive emotional states to be able to transform them ( Greenberg and Goldman, 2019). Emotion oriented orientations have both commonalities and differences in what is considered particularly important when working with emotions in session. Different treatment orientations encourage the client to approach emotional experiences, within levels they are able to tolerate in the session, to further enhance the capacity to process emotions ( Whelton, 2004 Peluso and Freund, 2018). Research shows that, across symptom categories and treatment orientations, emotional arousal coupled with cognitive-reflective exploration in treatment is positively correlated with treatment outcomes ( Lane et al., 2014 Barbosa et al., 2017 Pascual-Leone and Yeryomenko, 2017). In addition to opening up verbally to the therapist, various treatment orientations emphasize that it is necessary for the client to open up to and engage with personal issues internally, even when this is highly painful. It is natural that disclosure of personal material can take some time, sometimes opening up may occur only after months and sometimes it never happens ( Farber, 2003). However, the process of opening up in treatment sessions is far from straightforward, as apprehension, shame or fright can prevail (e.g., MacFarlane et al., 2015 Baumann and Hill, 2016 Marks et al., 2019). ![]() The therapeutic process in psychotherapy is aimed at facilitating clients’ capacity to approach, recognize and reflect upon challenging life issues with openness and authenticity ( Kolden et al., 2018). This knowledge is highly relevant to clinicians when building safety for psychotherapeutic work. Concerns related to appropriate interpersonal conduct as client were especially important. A range of concerns led participants to distance themselves from their inner experiences and/or to refrain from openly talking about them to the therapist. The overarching theme was “Holding back and struggling to open up,” which included four subthemes: (a) fearing the intensity and consequences of negative emotions (b) experiences of being incapable and bodily stuck (c) being insecure about one’s worthiness and right to share inner experiences with the therapist and (d) struggling with feeling disloyal to loved ones.Ĭonclusion: The participants held back because they feared different consequences of opening up. Results: The data revealed how and why clients distanced themselves from inner experiences in the initial phase of therapy. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. A follow-up interview was conducted 3 months later. Interpersonal process recall was used to obtain in-depth descriptions of clients’ immediate experiences in session. Methods: Two psychotherapy sessions of clients ( N = 11) were videotaped and followed by interviews. Objective: To explore how clients in clinical settings experience the process of opening up and sharing their inner experiences in the initial phase of therapy. 4Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway.3Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.2Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.1District General Hospital of Førde, Førde, Norway.Gøril Solberg Kleiven 1,2* Aslak Hjeltnes 2 Marit Råbu 3 Christian Moltu 1,4 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |