Untitled

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

The practices of existential psychotherapists: Development and application of an observational grid

Publication . Correia, Edgar Agrela; Sartóris, Vítor; Fernandes, Tiago; Cooper, Mick; Berdondini, Lucia; Sousa, Daniel Cunha Monteiro de; Pires, Branca Sá; Fonseca, João da

Within the major therapeutic paradigms, observational instruments have been developed to assess orientation-specific interventions or processes. However, to date, no such instrument exists to assess existential practices. Recent research indicates the key practices of existential therapists, and forms an empirical basis on which to develop an observatory grid. This paper describes the development of such a grid, and its exploratory testing with eight clients of four Portuguese existential psychotherapists. A total of 32 sessions were observed and both speaking turn and whole-session analysis showed that it was feasible to assess existential therapy using the instrument, although psychometric findings recommend further refinement of the tool. Session-rating data suggest that the chief practices applied by existential therapists were relational, followed by the use of hermeneutic interventions and reformulations. Interventions based on phenomenological and existential assumptions were observable in practice but limited in frequency. Further refinements and developments of the observational grid, together with additional research – using a range of therapists from different schools of existential therapy – are recommended.

2016Journal article

Restricted access