Therapists' perceptions of their roles and functions in imago relationship therapy.

[摘要] Couple therapy research demands a shift in focus from quantitative to qualitative studiesthat explore therapist behaviours such as the role of the therapist due to the significantgap between research and practice, where research is often irrelevant and inaccessible toclinicians, and errors in practice are repeated and perpetuated as a result of lack ofinsight into therapeutic functions. Research on couple therapies also lacks focus onrecent modalities such as Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT), a formative and recentmodality of couple therapy in South Africa and internationally that requires empiricalresearch and evaluation. Studies addressing therapist qualities and skills necessary indealing with diverse populations such as South Africa are also lacking. The subjectiveexperiences and perceptions of eight Imago relationship therapists practicing in a SouthAfrican context were thus explored and described within a qualitative paradigm toprovide an in-depth account of their role. Semi-structured individual interviews wereused to explore their role, and responses recorded and analysed using thematic contentanalysis. Findings highlighted underlying complexities of this role as a result of evidentcontradiction, irony, and paradox within participants’ experience. Firstly, the corefunction of establishing safe connection for the couple proved ironically 'unconnecting’and theory-driven in nature, which also provides a sense of safety and reducedresponsibility for the therapist. The role of the Imago therapist was also indicated to be apart of participants’ identity and life philosophy. The second theme highlighted theinherently paradoxical nature of the role because perceptions of a 'non-expert’ and'background’ role in fact requires active and expert therapeutic functions as they remainacutely connected to the couple’s process. Thirdly, the intuitive nature of this role wasreiterated as participants’ experienced both favourable and limiting therapeuticencounters in a positive and congruent way, which has implications for increasedtherapeutic growth. Finally, although participants’ experience of their role in SouthAfrica highlighted IRT’s underlying theoretical orientation of universal connection, theydid not seem aware of this underlying theory as informing practice. This raises questionsabout implications on their role given the importance of theory in influencing the waythe therapist thinks about the client. Findings generally contribute to narrowing theresearch-practice gap providing insight into the practice of Imago therapy, which may inturn add to richness of theory.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand