Being Real in Therapy

Therapeutic realness occurs when therapists express their feelings, thoughts, and desires directly to their clients, even when doing so comes with risk. Previous nonclinical research indicates that realness is a core feature of the more general concept of authenticity/genuineness/congruence. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Humanistic psychologist 2024-09, Vol.52 (3), p.274-288
Main Authors: Hopwood, Christopher J., Békés, Vera, Aafjes-van Doorn, Katie, Luo, Xiaochen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Human
Individual Differences
Psychotherapists
Psychotherapy
Sincerity
Theoretical Orientation
Therapeutic Alliance
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Summary:Therapeutic realness occurs when therapists express their feelings, thoughts, and desires directly to their clients, even when doing so comes with risk. Previous nonclinical research indicates that realness is a core feature of the more general concept of authenticity/genuineness/congruence. In this article, we examined therapeutic realness in a sample of 691 therapist participants who reported on their typical experiences in therapy. Therapeutic realness was correlated with age and clinical experience and was higher in the treatment of individuals as opposed to couples, families, or groups, and in the use of process-oriented as opposed to cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques. Therapeutic realness was associated with the real relationship, therapy presence, and working alliance. These results suggest that therapeutic realness might play an important role in psychotherapy and point to important directions for future research. Public Significance StatementThis article examines the role of being real in psychotherapy. Being real involves being authentic with clients even when there is pressure not to. This work shows that therapeutic realness is more common under certain conditions and is generally related to positive therapeutic process.
ISSN:0887-3267
1547-3333
DOI:10.1037/hum0000333