«The therapist’s self«: therapeutic work experienced through the eyes of the therapists

Abstract

This article looks at the experiences of two therapists, the meaning they ascribe to their work, its effect on their personal relations and personal lives and the intertwining of these two areas. The research was designed as a qualitative phenomenological exploration into the individual experience of a phenomenon using an interpretative phenomenological analysis. From this analysis three general themes were developed: the therapist’s self,the therapeutic relationship and the personal and the therapeutic. These themes represented the participants’ experiences and were developed in view of the research question. The participant therapists have many professional and personal differences; however they both view therapeutic work as a personal experience, marked sometimes with distress and distrust. They discern the key moments in therapy as meetings or being with clients where they themselves are inevitably personally involved. They believe this work links the personal and the therapeutic in a way that can be difficult but that can finally allow for personal growth and enriched personal relationships.