Circling Science

Therapeutic presence: Therapists’ experience of presence in the psychotherapy encounter

Shari M. Geller and Leslie S. Greenberg · 2002

Evidence
Qualitative study
Kind
Journal article
peer-reviewed
Method
Qualitative analysis of expert therapists’ accounts of presence
Published
Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 1(1–2), 71–86

Mechanisms

Studies a process a circle relies on, such as disclosure or synchrony, wherever it happens.

From expert therapists’ accounts, a model of therapeutic presence in three parts: preparing for it before and outside sessions, what therapists do while present, and what being present is like in a session.

What it doesn’t show

The therapists were chosen because they already wrote about or championed presence, and the model rests on their own descriptions. It does not show that clients notice presence or benefit from it.

Summary based on the abstract.

Directions that build on it

  1. The facilitator’s attention

    Builds on 7 works · 3 funding routes

    What does a facilitator attend to, moment by moment, and how does the choice of what to say arise?

Links

Cite

Geller, S. M., & Greenberg, L. S. (2002). Therapeutic presence: Therapists’ experience of presence in the psychotherapy encounter. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 1(1–2), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2002.9688279