Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies

Editorial 5.4 : Meeting at Relational Depth

Over the past 75 years, person-centered and experiential approaches have made many contributions to the world of psychotherapy and counseling. In the face of didactic and pathologizing models of therapy, they have consistently emphasized the contribution that clients make to their own therapeutic development; and, against a cognitive tide, they have worked to ensure that the affective domain remains a central focus.

Perhaps the greatest contribution that the person-centered and experiential approaches have made, however, is to consistently promote the belief that, for many clients, the most healing aspect of therapy is neither the therapist's techniques nor their own cognitive learning, but the experiencing of an in-depth relationship with another human being. More than that, psychotherapists and counselors in the person-centered and experiential traditions have led the way in demonstrating how such a relationship can be forged and how it can be empirically examined.

The concept of relational depth — "A state of profound contact and engagement between two people, in which each person is fully real with the Other, and able to understand and value the Other's experiences at a high level" (Mearns & Cooper, 2005, p. xii) — is by no means new to the person-centered and experiential field. Rather, it is an attempt to encapsulate the essence of much of what we do. This is not, as some might fear, to objectify it and constrict it and to turn it into a new therapeutic technique; but to bring the soul of our work to a higher level of awareness, so that it can be discussed, empirically explored, and brought to a new generation of practitioners.

Four of the five papers for this special issue of Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies (O'Leary, Schmid, Lambers and McMillan & McLeod) were based on presentations at a one-day conference held on the 18th May 2006 at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, entitled: `Meeting at Relational Depth'. The conference was held to celebrate the retirement of Dave Mearns, Professor of Counselling at the University of Strathclyde, who developed the concept of relational depth in the 1990s and whose lifetime work in the person-centered field has been orientated around encountering, and training others to encounter, clients at this level of depth, intensity and openness.

The first paper in this special issue, by Charles J. O'Leary, shows how the concept of relational depth stretches back to the heart of the person-centered and experiential approaches, in the personhood of Carl Rogers himself. It is followed by a paper by Peter F. Schmid who outlines the philosophical essence of a relationally deep encounter: an openness to the otherness of the Other and the realization that therapy is essentially a dialogic enterprise from the very beginning. Dave Mearns and Peter Schmid then go on to explore how such a way of meeting can be developed in practice. This is followed by a paper by Elke Lambers who discusses a relational depth-informed approach to supervision. The special issue concludes with an empirical contribution from Maria McMillan and John McLeod, which looks at relational depth from the point of view of the client: We know that therapists can experience an indepth sense of encounter with their clients (Cooper, 2005), but do clients experience the same thing, and how important is it to them?

The concept of relational depth is not important just to practitioners from the personcentered and experiential traditions. With the growing acknowledgment of the contribution that the relationship makes to therapeutic outcomes (see, for instance, Norcross, 2002), the issue of how counselors and psychotherapists can forge deeper and more effective relationships is a concern for practitioners of all orientations. In this collection of papers, person-centered and experiential therapists show how they continue to lead the way in developing a more indepth, detailed and holistic understanding of the heart of the therapeutic enterprise. I hope that you will find these writings stimulating, engaging and inspiring.

REFERENCES

Cooper, M. (2005). Therapists' experiences of relational depth: A qualitative interview study. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 5, 87_95.

Mearns, D. & Cooper, M. (2005). Working at relational depth in counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.

Norcross, J. C. (Ed.) (2002). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapists' contributions and responsiveness to patients. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mick Cooper, Special Issue editor

<mick.cooper@strath.ac.uk>

October, 2006