Phenomenological Research
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), hermeneutic and descriptive phenomenology, and lived-experience studies. 40 records.
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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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Navigating Foreignness and non-nativeness in post-Brexit UK
An IPA study, stimulated by the lead author’s own personal experiences, explored how foreign and non-native therapy trainees experience life in the UK after Brexit.
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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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Creative engagement with the voices of person-centred therapists: Using poetic illuminations to overcome data fragmentation and to highlight the nuances of lived experience
Increasingly, creative forms of data representation are being utilised within qualitative research as a way of gaining deep, varied and nuanced knowledge of a phenomenon.
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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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Framing and Transforming Shame: Exploring shame from a person-centred perspective
Shame is a key emotion requiring understanding in therapeutic practice. This study explored shame as understood and experienced by person-centred counsellors and psychotherapists.
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Hermeneutic Existential Phenomenology as a psychotherapeutic and philosophical attunement to educate novice researchers
This paper develops a hermeneutic existential phenomenological (HEP) approach to the research education of novice researchers.
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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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Shared Visibilities: An exploration of the client’s use of imagery on the road to UPSR
This article presents findings from research on the interaction between client imagery and Unconditional Personal Self-Regard (UPSR).
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The therapist’s personal therapy: What influence does it have on their clinical practice?
This study explores the impact of therapists’ own personal therapy on their clinical practice.
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The transformative experience of finding a relational home with a psychotherapist
We explored the lived experience of finding a relational home in psychotherapy using a relational-centred, reflexive approach.
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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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Therapists’ lived experience of self-disclosure
The impact and challenges of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist was explored using Reflexive Thematic Analysis of five interviews with integrative psychotherapists.
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The novice researcher and the phenomenological pilgrimage
The journey of a novice researcher can be a long and lonely road. This paper draws parallels between engaging in phenomenological research and psychotherapy practice.
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Spontaneous clarity - a new reality dawns: Psychotherapists’ lived experience of epiphany moments
This article presents findings from the author’s doctoral research into psychotherapists’ perceptions of their moments of self-awareness and epiphanies, using a reflexive, hermeneutic phenomenological approach.
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Stepping into the clearing: A researcher’s challenge to make sense of phenomenological philosophy
Philosophical texts have much to offer the phenomenological researcher, but can appear remote to novice researchers who are not versed in philosophy.
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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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RE-writing the Pain: A Lyric Essay
The creative, non-fiction approach of ‘lyric essay’ is used to flesh out my heuristic experience, building on earlier heuristic research about my experience of musculoskeletal pain.
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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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Integrative therapists’ subjective experiences and understanding of emotional connection in their practice
Despite abundant literature on the therapeutic relationship, the experience of emotional connection in therapy from psychotherapists’ perspective remains under-explored.
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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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I’m human too: Person-centred counsellors’ lived experiences of therapist self-disclosure
Therapist self-disclosure (TSD) is an issue shrouded in debate, risk, and uncertainty. This study explores person-centred counsellors’ lived experiences of it.
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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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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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Clients’ experiences of psychodynamic therapies: A phenomenological study
This study aimed to explore clients’ experiences of psychodynamic therapies. Six adults were interviewed about their experiences of psychodynamic/brief psychodynamic therapy at varying stages of the process. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with peer…
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“It’s because of what we did that I’m going to university”: A qualitative exploration of the experience of growing through a school’s therapeutic programme
This study aimed to ‘give voice’ to the lived experience and perceptions of seven students who have used a therapeutic service in school.
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A Phenomenological Exploration of Tattooing: A Personal and Meaning-filled Experience
This paper explores what one woman’s tattoos subjectively mean to her in the context of her life, merging a dialogical-relational Gestalt theoretical base with a relational-hermeneutic approach.
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‘Life After Delivery’: a phenomenological enquiry into one woman’s experience
This research explores one woman’s experience following the birth of a child using a phenomenological, relational-centred research approach.
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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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Embracing researcher subjectivity in phenomenological research: A response to Ann Scott
All researchers experience times of confusion and uncertainty and risk getting lost in the complex ambiguity of the research journey.
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To be, or not to be… registered: A relational-phenomenological exploration of what State Registration means to psychotherapists
Little qualitative research has been carried out on psychotherapists’ perspectives on statutory regulation and the personal meanings they bring to the debate about professional registration.
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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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Integration in Practice. How do they do it?
This study examines the phenomenological experience of Christian psychotherapists working with clients in an Integrative Psychotherapy paradigm.
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An experiential approach to teaching qualitative research
A phenomenological exploration of the experience of teaching research experientially, via an exploration of shame among Gestalt therapists in several European countries.
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Before and After: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Impact of a Four-Year Training in Gestalt Psychotherapy on Gestalt Psychotherapists
A phenomenological and qualitative exploration into how a group of gestalt psychotherapists in Norway had been impacted by their training.
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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.