A journey to client and therapist mutuality in person-centered psychotherapy: a case study

Abstract

This aim of this case study is to build theory on the development of client-therapist mutuality in person-centered psychotherapy. A case study focusing on a 42 year old female client who had presented for therapy following trauma within interpersonal relationships has been used.A reflective, theory building, case study method was adopted that used data gathered from verbatim session notes and research interviews between the therapist (first author) and research supervisor (second author). Three primary therapeutic processes that contributed to the development of mutuality are discussed. First, the development of mutual empathy in the relationship; second, strategies for disconnection and staying out of relationship are identified. Third, client agency and mutuality is explored. In conclusion the study proposes that mutuality is a key construct within person-centered psychotherapy and develops as a natural consequence of the presence of Rogers's therapeutic conditions.

Focusing manner and posttraumatic growth

“…It is estimated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) along with the co-morbid conditions such as depression, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorderall rooted in traumatic experiences, affect at least 6.06% of the UK's adult population (Murphy, Archard, Regel and Joseph, 2013). Person-centred experiential theory and case study evidence is able to account for the wide range of human reactions to adverse events and the idiosyncrasy of the clients' needs in various post-trauma environments (e.g., Rutherford, 2007;Murphy 2009;Brice, 2011;Carrick & Joseph, 2013;Tickle & Murphy, 2014).…”

Mutuality in psychotherapy: A meta-analysis and meta-synthesis.

“…Nonmutual relationships are often expected by clients and a cause of mental distress through a loss of agency (Gagerman, 2004; Murphy, Cramer, & Joseph, 2012; Tickle & Murphy, 2014). The expectation of nonmutual relationships stems from a feeling of not being worthy of connection (Gagerman, 2004), where being vulnerable (Binder, Moltu, Hummelsund, & Holgersen, 2011) leads to clients’ strategies of disconnection (Tickle & Murphy, 2014). Strategies of disconnection are employed to maintain a nonmutual position within the relationship by not engaging fully in the relationship.…”

“…Tickle and Murphy (2014) suggest that strategies of connection are cocreated in the way that Gagerman (2004) argues that empathy is necessarily mutual. The client’s and therapist’s strategies of disconnection similarly are cocreated in the relationship.…”

Explanatory Styles of Counsellors in Training

“…Counsellors train to nurture a personcentered relationship with clients and to be responsive to client needs (Norcross and Wampold 2018). Counsellors in training are encouraged to work with clients to first identify the concerns to address, to then collaboratively discern ways that are meaningful to clients to address these concerns, and then to seek regular client feedback to consistently monitor their wellness progress (Paré 2013;Parrow et al 2019;Sackett and Lawson 2016;Tickle and Murphy 2014;Yalom 2009). As counsellors care for clients, it is "not in a possessive way or in such a way as simply to satisfy the therapist's own needs.…”