Clinical Practice
Research on specific client groups, presentations and practice settings. 36 records.
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Therapists in the Post-Pandemic World
The COVID-19 pandemic drove an unprecedented transformation in the delivery of psychological therapies. This study investigates practitioners who transitioned to online modalities.
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‘You are an Oddity’
Research specifically focusing on men struggling with binge eating disorder (BED) is limited. This qualitative study explored men’s experiences and understanding of BED.
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When two bodies meet in the therapy room
This study is the first hermeneutic phenomenological exploration of cisgender male therapists’ embodied experiences when working with male clients presenting disordered eating behaviours.
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‘They Got It’: How professionals can support the emotional wellbeing of parents of a child with a learning disability, or who are autistic.
Studies suggest that parents of children with a learning disability or who are autistic are at greater risk of poorer mental health.
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Why do therapists work in prisons, and what is their lived experience of doing so?
The aim of this study is to uncover the lived experience of psychotherapists and counsellors working in prisons and their motivations for doing so.
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Exploring service users, families, and professionals’ experiences with Open Dialogue in a Portuguese psychosocial rehabilitation unit
Open Dialogue is a collaborative approach that emphasizes the involvement of the person at the center of concern, their family, and professionals in network meetings.
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Self-definition issues may veil relational needs and fears in negotiations of the alliance: A new way to conceptualize rupture and repair
Needs for self-definition and relatedness in psychotherapeutic interaction have been described in theory and research but their role in rupture-repair episodes is still not well understood.
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Facilitating Emotion Focused Skills Training for parents online (EFST-O): Insights about self-disclosure, group dynamics and culture
The Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST) is a program for parents who want to promote the mental health of their children, and their own.
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“It’s not me anymore, it’s him” A hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis of matrescence with implications for counselling and psychotherapeutic practice
Little explains what is typically experienced mentally when an individual becomes a mother. This article aims to better understand the experience of matrescence and its implications for practice.
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A balancing act – Therapists’ experiences of conducting psychotherapy with psychosis clients
This study aimed to explore therapists’ experiences of providing therapy for people with a history of psychosis and examine the role played by psychotic symptoms in therapy. Interviews with 10 therapists were conducted and analyzed thematically using…
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Exploring fathers' experience of their first child's early years: Representations versus reality
This qualitative study explored fathers’ lived experience and meanings of being a first-time father in the United Kingdom. Seven fathers were interviewed, and the data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
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Literature review applying therapeutic theory and practice in the field of domestic abuse and coercive control
This literature review introduces the issue of domestic abuse and coercive control to psychotherapists and considers how to work therapeutically with survivors.
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Learning to end: Trainee therapists’ experiences of imposed therapeutic endings
The aim of the study was to explore trainee therapists’ experiences of imposing therapy endings with their clients, where endings were imposed by the conclusion of training.
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A Heuristic Inquiry into my use of Theraplay® with children experiencing the impact of relational and developmental trauma
In this paper, I share my process of conducting doctoral research using Heuristic Inquiry as a practising Theraplay® counsellor working with children experiencing relational and developmental trauma.
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Therapist experiences of congruence in school-based counselling
Congruence is a key counselling concept. Whilst literature on congruence is rich, there is a lack of research in school-based counselling.
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Processing of Self-concept and Identity in Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder: Findings from a Content-Analytic Follow-up Study
We explored how five individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) perceived their self-concept over the 12 months after attending a psychoeducational intervention at a community mental health care centre.
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Who are we protecting? Exploring counsellors’ understanding and experience of boundaries.
The concept of boundaries is a term often used within counselling and psychotherapy literature. This study researched how counsellors understand and experience boundaries within their counselling practice.
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Therapists’ experiences with mentalization-based treatment for avoidant personality disorder
Recent research points to significant mentalizing difficulties in individuals with avoidant personality disorder (AvPD). This study contributes to an understanding of the therapeutic issues such work might entail.
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The implications of psychotherapeutic discourses for victims and offenders of female perpetuated child sexual abuse
Research studies have often failed to contemplate the female child molester or to initiate specific protocols for psychotherapeutic treatment.
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A roadmap to recovery and a life worth living: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of adolescent experiences of dialectical behaviour therapy in child and adolescent mental health services
This research explores adolescents’ lived experience of 24 weeks of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) within child and adolescent mental health services.
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The power of Presence: Exploring experiences of therapy with a client suffering from a chronic neurological condition
This article explores the applicability of the Gestalt paradigm in therapy involving clients with chronic and/or progressive physiological illnesses, through a case study.
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The emotional impact of research: A reflexive account of a counsellor-turned-PhD researcher’s experience of vicarious trauma
This article presents a personal and reflexive account of a counsellor-turned-researcher who experienced vicarious trauma and its impact on counselling-related PhD research.
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“Much more than second best”: Therapists’ experiences of videoconferencing psychotherapy
This study employs phenomenologically-orientated Thematic Analysis to explore the lived experience of integrative psychotherapists using videoconferencing for psychotherapy.
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Self-harm as an attempt at self-care
This reflective and layered, interdisciplinary paper makes a space to think of self-harming as an attempt at self-care, drawing on published memoirs and young people’s personal accounts.
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“You’ve got children haven’t you…?”: Involuntary childlessness as a neglected aspect of therapist diversity in the professional context
In a previous article we detailed the findings of a qualitative research project into the lived experience of qualified involuntary childless therapists and showed how this connected to work with clients in the therapy room.
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Wounded healer therapists: A legacy of developmental trauma
My research asks, 'what impact might a personal history of complex developmental trauma have on a counsellor’s experience of, and work with, traumatised clients?' Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 experienced therapists.
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Being large: An investigation into the lived world of problematic weight in women
There is still a limited amount of UK based phenomenological research undertaken with large women about their experiences.
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“I’ve got this hole…”: Experiences of therapist involuntary childlessness with clients in therapeutic practice
Little has been written on how therapists experience their practice in relation to involuntary childlessness.
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An exploration of the unassisted gravity dream
Flying dreams are termed ‘gravity dreams,’ along with dreams that include falling, climbing, descending and floating. Phenomenological studies looking at flying dreams are scarce.
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Separated Motherhood: Exploring the experience of mothering premature twins and psychotherapeutic implications
The experience of giving birth prematurely presents a stressful and challenging time for new mothers, who often spend extensive time with their children in specialist intensive care hospital settings.
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Therapeutic work in the midst of grief: A literature review
This article offers a brief review of the theory and existing literature in the psychotherapy field which explores the nature of therapeutic work while in the midst of grief.
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A Model Combining Psychotherapy with Spirituality and Religion in the area of Palliative Care and Bereavement
This paper presents a model for working with the dying and the bereaved within the Maltese context, arising from years of practice in oncology and palliative care.
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Addiction as a defence against relationship? Relationship as an antidote to addiction? A phenomenological exploration of the significance of relationship in recovery
This paper is a joint project undertaken by an Integrative psychotherapist and a Gestalt psychotherapist working together as co-researchers.
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Lived Experience of a Permanent Rupture Between Mother and Daughter
This research explores the lived experience of the rupture in the relationship between Jenny (a pseudonym) and her mother. In a relational-centred research interview, Jenny shares her experience of the rupture and her relationship after it.
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A Phenomenological Exploration of the Loss of a Parent in Childhood
We investigated how the death of a parent, in childhood, represents a profound psychological insult. Data collection involved a one-time semi-structured interview.
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A phenomenological exploration of the impact of a traumatic incident (death of a child) on Social Services Staff
A phenomenological exploration of the effects of a traumatic event on Social Services personnel, the meaning they constructed from it, and their perception of what was missing in terms of support.