The article below was written in 2009, while I was in the middle of my doctoral program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, in Palo Alto. Subsequently, I did my dissertation on “Transpersonal Aspects of Therapists’ Presence” (Granick, 2011).
In coming weeks, I will be writing more about that research which I will post here. In the meantime, the abstract is posted below.
My theoretical interest in “presence”, as a factor in good therapy, emerged from my earliest training in Carl Rogers’ “core conditions of therapy”. Rogers suggested that what therapists need to do is unconditionally value their clients and demonstrate that they understand what their clients are experiencing, and do this authentically, without playing a role. He called these the necessary and sufficient conditions of therapy; in other words, you needed to do these things and, if you did them well, that was pretty much all you needed to do.
While this may sound fairly straightforward and simple on the surface, perhaps even obvious, my experience was that manifesting and sustaining Rogers’ conditions required a significant effort of attention. I found that it was well worth it, in terms of benefit to my clients. In fact, this effort of attention became a kind of practice and, over time, I noticed that it had a pronounced effect on me as well. I discovered that when I was able to fully concentrate and give undivided attention to my clients, holding them as intrinsically valuable and really trying to see the world from their perspective, I would find myself in something of an “altered state”, and would seem to tune into them at a much deeper level. The word that seemed to capture this experience was “presence.”
This led to pursuing research on presence as a “therapeutic variable.” I soon discovered that I was not alone in this inquiry. In fact, Rogers (Baldwin, 1987) himself, toward the end of his life stated
“I find that when I am the closest to my inner, intuitive self—when perhaps I am somehow in touch with the unknown in me—when perhaps I am in a slightly altered state of consciousness in the relationship, then whatever I do seems to be full of healing. Then simply my presence is releasing and helpful. At those moments, it seems that my inner spirit has reached out and touched the inner spirit of the other. Our relationship transcends itself, and has become part of something larger. Profound growth and healing are present.”
Since Rogers’ time, there have been several studies on therapist presence that have shown that this perspective is shared by others. Currently, I am doing research on how clients experience their therapists’ presence. I conducted a pilot study with one participant, a woman in her thirties, who described her therapist as highly present. She used the phrase “transpersonal presence” to describe aspects of the relationship that seemed to transcend ordinary levels of communication. For her, this was profoundly healing.
In retrospect, I realize that my interest in presence was formed long before I conceptualized it as such, and even before I’d entertained becoming a therapist. Throughout my life there have been people who have had a beneficial influence on me, who have significantly impacted my growth, and even changed my direction. While they have been very different in almost every way, what they had in common was that they each had a strong quality of presence.
Baldwin, M. (1987). Interview with Carl Rogers on the use of self in therapy. Journal of Psychotherapy and The Family, 3(1), 29-38. (view/download pdf)
Granick, J.L., Transpersonal aspects of therapists’ presence: What do clients experience? [Doctoral Dissertation] Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, 2011
Abstract
Several studies have explored therapist presence as a therapeutic variable from the perspective of therapists, with a high degree of convergence among identified qualities of therapist presence that include intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal dimensions.One quantitative study evidenced that clients’ experience of their therapists’ presence correlated positively with their experience of the therapeutic alliance and session outcome. There are currently no previous studies, known to this researcher, that qualitatively explore clients’ experience of therapist presence.
The purpose of this study is to inquire into the phenomenological aspects of therapist presence, specifically from the perspective of clients. This qualitative study explored clients’ subjective experience of therapists’ presence and its perceived effects, particularly emphasizing its transpersonal aspects.Interviews were conducted with 7 graduate psychology students who attended schools with a transpersonal orientation, and were clients in psychotherapy who identified their therapists as very present.
Descriptions of therapist presence subsumed a set of therapist characteristics that invite an optimal therapeutic relationship that has beneficial effects for clients, as presented by the participants in this study. A dual-axis model of perceived therapist presence emerged from the findings, with the horizontal (x-axis) representing a relational dimension and the vertical (y-axis) representing a transcendent dimension.
Participants’ perceptions suggested that the therapist’s focus on the therapeutic relationship can precipitate the spontaneous manifestation of transpersonal features of presence, which in turn can affect the experience of the relationship itself, amplifying the quality of connection including the sense of mutual transcendence. Peak moments of therapist presence with extension on both axes were found to be particularly facilitative, with beneficial effects on both interpersonal dynamics within the therapeutic relationship, including transference issues, as well as individual transcendence.
These findings suggest that the state of the therapist is a relevant variable in psychotherapy and have implications for therapist education and training.
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