What do client speak about with their therapists in imagination
Vol.11,No.1(2017)
Although the psychotherapeutic process is by no means limited to events taking place within a session, very few studies have attended to what is happening in the periods between sessions. The objectives of this study was to explore the meaning and function of internal (imaginary) dialogues clients have in their imagination with their therapists between sessions. Semi-structured interviews with six clients who provided a description of a total of 30 specific episodes of internal dialogue were used as data. The analysis was conducted using the grounded theory method and resulted in eight categories describing different motives, which initiated the internal dialogues. The results are discussed in the context of the existing empirical literature and can be considered especially useful for therapists who themselves have no experience with individual therapy from the client position.
Tereza Smejkalová, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: tera.smejkalova@gmail.comTomáš Řiháček, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: tomas.rihacek@gmail.com
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
imaginary conversation; Inner dialogue; inter-session experience
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