Description of a practice
A practical guide for volunteer peer facilitators of Authentic Relating “connection games”, written as a social-services thesis with the Finnish association Autenttiset ry.
58 papers
Studies of the practice3
- 2025Yhteyspeliohjaajan opas [Connection-game facilitator’s guide]
- 2022Kan relationer fördjupas genom bemötandeträning? En utvärdering av en helgkurs i autentiskt relaterande [Can relationships be deepened through responsiveness training? An evaluation of a weekend course in authentic relating]
Before-and-after study33 of 58 attendees across four courses; 25 and 16 analysed in the two comparisonsCautions: Small sample · Self-selected participants · Self-report only
After a two-day Authentic Relating course, participants felt markedly closer to a fellow participant. Ratings of a close friend who hadn’t attended didn’t change two to four weeks later.
- 2022Reconceptualising emotional capital and intimacy using a sociological lens: the Authentic Revolution
Qualitative study
An ethnography of Authentic Relating and Circling communities, from interviews and participant observation: how they cultivate emotional intimacy and respond to social isolation.
Uses of the practice8
- 20254E Cognitive Science and the Transformative Study of Religion
Conceptual work
Argues for participatory exercises in teaching the study of religion, including authentic relating exercises alongside mindfulness, improvisation and philosophical dialogue.
- 2024Perspective Chapter: The Overwhelm is the Way – Contextual Relational Mindfulness as the Key to Integrated Executive Functioning
Conceptual work
Proposes a coaching approach for adult ADHD in which Authentic Relating games, Circling and related practices serve as training in relational mindfulness.
- 2023A sampling of philosophical counseling frameworks, tools, and practices
Review
A survey of tools for philosophical counsellors that lists Circling, as taught by Guy Sengstock, and Authentic Relating among its dialogical practices.
- 2022Relational sensitivity and participatory practice: Exploring poise and punctuation through an empirical study
Qualitative studyThree members of a five-person team
An autoethnographic study of a design team whose members had Authentic Relating training, asking what self-awareness and attunement to group dynamics look like in practice.
- 2021Group Facilitation on Societal Disruption and Collapse: Insights from Deep Adaptation
Qualitative studyCautions: Studied by its developers
Introduces “Deep Relating”, a facilitation practice drawing on Authentic Relating and Circling, for conversations about anticipated societal disruption and collapse.
- 2019Talking to Transform: Aesthetic Experiments in Conversational Inquiry
Conceptual work
A philosophical and artistic study of transformative conversation practices, from Socratic dialogue to psychodrama. Authentic Relating and Circling appear among its examples.
- 2018Dream Circling: Dreamwork as Interpersonal Meditation
Description of a practice
A conference abstract describing Dream Circling, a facilitated dream-sharing practice that adds mindfulness and Authentic Relating exercises to group dreamwork.
- 2017The capacity of community-based participatory research in relation to disability and the SDGs
Review
A paper on participatory disability research in East and West Africa reports that five Circling principles were helping peer researchers clarify and deepen their thinking.
Adjacent evidence45
- 2025Synchronous Smiles and Hearts: Dyadic Meditations Enhance Closeness and Prosocial Behavior in Virtual and In-Person Settings
Experiment55 people in 100 dyads online; 98 people in 238 pairings in personCautions: No later follow-up
Two minutes of a partner meditation, gazing at each other while contemplating shared humanity, raised closeness by about one standard deviation, and partners’ smiles and heart rates fell into sync.
- 2024Reducing Loneliness through the Power of Practicing Together: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Online Dyadic Socio-Emotional vs. Mindfulness-Based Training
Randomised trial253 adultsCautions: Studied by its developers · Commercial interest · Same study as another entry · Self-report only · No later follow-up
Ten weeks of online partner practice (Affect Dyads) reduced loneliness compared with a waitlist. Against mindfulness training, the advantage showed only in momentary, everyday loneliness.
- 2023Boosting Empathy and Compassion Through Mindfulness-Based and Socioemotional Dyadic Practice: Randomized Controlled Trial With App-Delivered Trainings
Randomised trial218 participants analysed; 285 registeredCautions: Same study as another entry · Studied by its developers · Commercial interest · No later follow-up
An app-based trial found gains in reported compassion and task-based empathy after both Affect Dyads and mindfulness, without clear evidence that the dyads worked better.
- 2023Connection Heals Wounds: Feeling Listened to Reduces Speakers’ Loneliness Following a Social Rejection Disclosure
Experiment1,643 participants across five experimentsCautions: Self-report only · No later follow-up
Five experiments found that attentive, understanding listening reduced immediate loneliness when people discussed or imagined discussing a past rejection.
- 2023Negative effects during multicomponent group-based treatment: A multisite study
Survey330 patients at seven clinical sitesCautions: Self-report only · No later follow-up
Patients who began group treatment more distressed, rated the group alliance poorly or were strongly stirred in sessions reported more negative effects, and those effects came with worse outcomes, not better ones.
- 2022Overly shallow?: Miscalibrated expectations create a barrier to deeper conversation.
ExperimentStudents, working adults, community volunteers and online participants across the experiments
Across twelve experiments, people expected deeper conversations to be more awkward and less rewarding than they turned out to be.
- 2021How does emotional intelligence feel? An exercise to cultivate self-awareness, self-regulation, perspective-taking and empathy
Description of a practiceBachelor’s students in business and economics, in a course on global challenges
Step-by-step instructions for a contemplative exercise, inspired by mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication, that lets business students experience self-awareness, self-regulation and empathy rather than only learn about them.
- 2021Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness
Survey886 respondents overall; 399 responded at four weeks and 213 had complete data for the path modelCautions: Self-selected participants · Self-report only
A prospective survey linked a stronger sense of togetherness during psychedelic ceremonies with later gains in reported wellbeing and social connection.
- 2021Research on Humanistic-Experiential Psychotherapies: Updated Review
Review91 studies published 2009–2018Cautions: Studied by its developers
Across 91 studies, clients in humanistic-experiential therapies (person-centred, emotion-focused, Gestalt and others) changed substantially, and about as much as clients in other therapies.
- 2020Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation‐based therapies: a systematic review
Review83 studies reviewed
A systematic review found reports of adverse experiences during or after meditation, with prevalence estimates varying greatly by study design and monitoring method.
- 2020Mindfulness-based interventions in context: A case study of managers’ experiences and the role of the organizational environment
Qualitative studyManagers at a medium-sized Scandinavian company
A longitudinal case study of a workplace mindfulness programme. Managers developed perspective-taking, empathy and authentic functioning, and features of the company helped them carry these into everyday work.
- 2020Reducing Exclusionary Attitudes through Interpersonal Conversation: Evidence from Three Field Experiments
Experiment6,869 voters and 230 canvassers across seven US locationsCautions: Self-report only
Three field experiments found small, persistent reductions in exclusionary attitudes after conversations that included a non-judgemental exchange of personal stories.
- 2019Gestalt Therapy Effectiveness: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence
Review11 studies selected from 295 full textsCautions: Questionable publisher · One person screened · No quality appraisal
A review of eleven studies of Gestalt therapy from 2007–2018, all of them in groups, reports promising results; as a narrative summary it can’t establish a reliable effect.
- 2019GROUPS 4 HEALTH reduces loneliness and social anxiety in adults with psychological distress: Findings from a randomized controlled trial.
Randomised trial120 adults experiencing psychological distressCautions: Studied by its developers · Self-report only
A trial found that Groups 4 Health reduced reported loneliness and social anxiety more than usual care by the two-month follow-up.
- 2019Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy
Before-and-after study160 survey respondents; 27 discussion pairs, with usable data from 26 dream-sharers and 27 listenersCautions: Small sample · Self-report only · No later follow-up
A survey and a small dream-sharing study linked dream discussion with empathy, with listeners reporting a modest increase after hearing a partner’s dream.
- 2018A realist informed mixed-methods evaluation of Schwartz Center Rounds® in England
Controlled study1,140 staff at baseline and 500 at follow-up; 177 interviews and observations of 42 RoundsCautions: Self-selected participants · Self-report only
An English evaluation of Schwartz Rounds found a larger fall in reported psychological distress among regular attenders than non-attenders, but no change in engagement.
- 2018Beautiful mess effect: Self–other differences in evaluation of showing vulnerability.
Experiment
Seven studies found that people often judged their own displays of vulnerability more negatively than observers judged comparable displays by others.
- 2018Perspective mistaking: Accurately understanding the mind of another requires getting perspective, not taking perspective.
ExperimentMultiple samples; the final experiment recruited 104 romantic couples
Twenty-five experiments found no reliable accuracy gain from imagining another person’s viewpoint; directly asking a partner improved predictions in the final experiment.
- 2018The effects of relationship and progress feedback in group psychotherapy using the Group Questionnaire and Outcome Questionnaire–45: A randomized clinical trial
Randomised trial58 groups with 430 patients enrolled; 374 came to at least five sessionsCautions: Studied by its developers
Adding feedback on members’ relationships in the group to feedback on their progress turned deteriorating relationships around and cut how often they failed. Effects on symptoms were mixed.
- 2018The Liking Gap in Conversations: Do People Like Us More Than We Think?
ExperimentUS and UK samples, including 102 first-year students followed across an academic year
Across five studies, people tended to underestimate how much conversation partners liked them, and this gap lasted for months among student housemates.
- 2017Adverse events of group psychotherapy in the in-patient setting – results of a naturalistic trial
Follow-up study180 psychiatric in-patients in a range of therapy groups
Most in-patients in group therapy had low moods after sessions or unwanted reactions. Unwanted reactions went with less improvement, but low moods after sessions did not predict how patients fared.
- 2017Effects of Contemplative Dyads on Engagement and Perceived Social Connectedness Over 9 Months of Mental Training: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Randomised trial362 adults randomised; 226 analysedCautions: Studied by its developers · No later follow-up
In a nine-month contemplative training, structured partner exercises engaged people as well as solitary meditation did, and their sense of social closeness grew.
- 2017Straight from the heart – a clinical group intervention to research management spirituality
Conceptual work
Proposes a year-long helping group as a research method: managers bring real problems, and what they share to get help becomes the data. A strong holding environment let them speak “straight from the heart”.
- 2017The client “experiencing” scale as a predictor of treatment outcomes: A meta-analysis on psychotherapy process
Review10 studies covering 406 clients
A meta-analysis found a small-to-medium association between deeper emotional experiencing during psychotherapy and better treatment outcomes.
- 2017When work becomes meditation: how managers use work as a tool for personal growth
Qualitative studySeven CEOs and owners of small and medium-sized companiesCautions: Self-selected participants
Seven CEOs and business owners, followed for two years, brought a meditative attitude to hard situations at work. Their focus shifted from attending to suffering, to witnessing what is, to responding with authenticity.
- 2015Insight Dialogue: Investigation of a Relational Meditation Practice
Before-and-after study100 retreat participants in North AmericaCautions: Self-selected participants · Self-report only · No later follow-up
A retreat study found higher mindfulness, self-compassion and wellbeing after Insight Dialogue, but had no comparison group.
- 2014The neural bases of feeling understood and not understood
Experiment19 participants with usable brain-imaging dataCautions: Small sample
A brain-imaging experiment found different activity patterns when people felt understood or misunderstood, alongside differences in how much they liked the supposed listener.
- 2012Beyond the myth of venting: Social sharing modes determine the benefits of emotional disclosure
Experiment89 speakers paired with 89 student listeners; 81 speakers completed the later assessmentCautions: Small sample · Self-report only
An experiment found that supportive listening increased immediate closeness, while helping speakers rethink an upsetting film reduced their reaction to it two days later.
- 2012Making Silence Together: Collaboration in the Silent Gatherings of Quakers
Qualitative studyOne focal Quaker community; six recorded Quaker Dialogues alongside wider fieldwork
An ethnographic dissertation describes Quaker silence as something participants make together through embodied attention, movement and occasional speech.
- 2011Nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy: Coordinated body movement reflects relationship quality and outcome.
Observational study104 sessions from 70 patients in same-sex patient–therapist pairings
Video analysis of psychotherapy sessions linked greater movement synchrony with better relationship ratings and greater symptom improvement.
- 2008Systems–Centered Training Groups’ Process and Outcome: A Comparison with AGPA Institute Groups
Controlled studySix Systems-Centered Training groups; participant count not stated in the abstractCautions: Small sample
A comparison of six Systems-Centered Training groups with earlier group studies found patterns consistent with benefits from functional subgrouping.
- 2007Participatory sense-making: An enactive approach to social cognition
Conceptual work
Introduces participatory sense-making: an enactive account of how people understand one another, in which their bodies and the dynamics of their interaction play a part, not only what happens in each person’s head.
- 2003The social consequences of expressive suppression.
Experiment72 women in the first experiment and 84 in the secondCautions: Small sample · No later follow-up
Two experiments with women who had just met found that suppressing emotional expression disrupted the conversation, reduced rapport and raised the partners’ blood pressure.
- 2000Adverse Outcomes in Group Psychotherapy: Risk Factors, Prevention, and Research Directions
Review
A review of what makes therapy, growth and self-help groups harmful. It sorts the risks into the leader, the group and the member, and argues that harm comes from how the three combine.
- 1998Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges.
Observational study69 students analysed over one week and 89 over two weeksCautions: Self-report only
Two diary studies linked disclosure and feeling that a partner responded with understanding to greater intimacy, with emotional disclosure more strongly linked than factual disclosure.
- 1997The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings
ExperimentCautions: Self-report only · No later follow-up
Pairs of strangers who took turns asking progressively more personal questions felt closer afterwards than pairs who made small talk. This is the research behind the “36 questions”.
- 1993Do people know how others view them? An empirical and theoretical account.
Review569 participants across eight studies
A review found that people judge their general reputation more accurately than the distinctive impressions particular others have of them.
- 1989Psychological effects of participation in a large group awareness training.
Controlled study135 Forum attendees: 83 assessed before and after, 52 assigned post-test only; 73 comparison participantsCautions: Self-selected participants · Self-report only · Commercial interest
A non-randomised study of the Forum found a short-term gain in perceived control, but its main outcome models found no lasting effects.
- 1987Effects of large group awareness training on participants’ psychiatric status
Follow-up studyMore than 300 participants in two cohortsCautions: Self-selected participants
Psychiatric interviews with more than 300 people who had taken a large group awareness training found no psychiatric casualties and only a few stress reactions.
- 1981Encounter Groups: Positive Change or Deterioration? More Data and a Partial Replication
Follow-up study327 members of 39 T-groups that met without a trainer
In 39 T-groups with no trainer, 10% of 327 members were named as harmed and 54% as helped. Most of those named as harmed were named as helped too; 3% had only a bad experience.
- 1973Some Observations on Encounter Group Casualties
Controlled study
Encounter-group members differed from a placebo group and a control group just after the groups ended, but by six months the differences had gone, and signs of harm were no more common among members.
- 1972The Impact of Encounter Groups on Participants: Some Preliminary Findings
Controlled study209 students in 18 groups and 69 comparison participantsCautions: Same study as another entry · Self-selected participants
A preliminary evaluation of encounter groups reported both benefits and harms and examined how outcomes related to leaders’ behaviour.
- 1971A Study of Encounter Group Casualties
Follow-up study209 undergraduates in 18 groups; 170 completedCautions: Same study as another entry · Self-selected participants
Of 170 students who finished a 30-hour encounter group, 16 were left with lasting harm. Harm clustered under forceful, charismatic leaders who pressed individuals hard instead of working with the group.
- 1970The Paradoxical Theory of Change
Conceptual work
A four-page essay built on a paradox: people change when they fully accept what they are, not when they strive to be different. The therapist should therefore stop trying to change the client.
- 1970The Rules and Games of Gestalt Therapy
Description of a practice
The ground rules of Gestalt groups: stay in the present; address people instead of talking about them; say “I”, not “it”; follow awareness down to the body; say what lies behind a question.
Background2
- 2016Negative Effects of Psychological Treatments: An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Negative Effects Questionnaire for Monitoring and Reporting Adverse and Unwanted Events
Survey653 respondents: 189 from a treatment trial and 464 recruited through mediaCautions: Self-report only
A questionnaire study organised reported negative experiences of psychological treatment into six dimensions, offering a tool for monitoring possible harm.
- 2006Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person: An interview method for the science of consciousness
Description of a practice
A methodological paper explains how guided interviews can bring out details of lived experience and discusses how to assess the resulting accounts.
Each entry says what kind of evidence it is. Open one for its method, its sample and what it doesn’t show.