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Background: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing in many areas of healthcare, including mental healthcare. The automated nature of such technologies has the potential to be developed to work with large numbers of people. This paper examines the way that student therapists experience using an interactive text‐based machine client as a training tool. Methodology: Chatbot technology has been used to develop an emotionally responsive interactive client (ERIC). This introduces individuals to concepts of person‐centred therapy (empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard) by using a series of pre‐programmed scenarios. Twenty‐eight student therapists evaluated ERIC's potential as a learning tool. Individuals were recruited from one university from a postgraduate and an undergraduate counselling programme. Findings: Feedback was generally positive, with all reporting that they enjoyed engaging with ERIC as a learning method. ERIC helped individuals consider their understanding of counselling skills in a non‐judgemental environment. Participants felt the scenarios were realistic and engaging, with many reporting that they felt they were engaging with a real client/person due to ERIC's ability to express emotions. Discussion: ERIC is at the proof‐of‐concept phase. From the feedback presented here, it is evident that it can be a useful learning tool. Further development of ERIC with feedback from a larger sample is, however, required. ERIC is currently a text‐based client, and further development would like to see the intervention be voice‐activated to enhance the experience. ERIC can be further enhanced and adapted to be a useful learning platform for student therapists, as well as for students in other (healthcare‐related) disciplines, whereby a client or patient is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong evidence base that demonstrates the beneficial impact of engaging in therapeutic writing tasks, often with reference to the successful emotional processing of traumatic life events. This paper looks to explore the experiences and impact of a community‐based therapeutic expressive writing group, which embraced a direct psychoeducational model to enhance emotional well‐being in a group of women. From an experiential qualitative position that embraces a "hermeneutics of empathy", this study uses a thematic analysis (TA) methodology (informed by the work of Braun & Clarke (2013) to explore the group members' narratives obtained through semistructured interviews. The study reveals the significance of a number of key factors, including the importance of the group setting, the identification of core therapeutic writing activities, the beneficial impact of skilled and supportive therapist facilitation, and the emotional value in "letting go" of unhelpful thoughts and feelings in order to strengthen psychological well‐being and resilience. The findings have important implications for service commissioning and the proactive delivery of effective time‐limited, low‐cost mental health interventions within primary settings across society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive body image is a contemporary construct, having only received research attention within the past two decades in an effort to elicit a more holistic, comprehensive account of the concept of body image. Nevertheless, emerging literature has suggested its direct and indirect association with improved outcomes, including indicators of well‐being (e.g. self‐compassion) and feelings towards the self (e.g. self‐esteem). Positive body image has therefore been suggested as both a potential technique and a target of actionable therapeutic work for cultivating both physical and psychological well‐being. First, through insights from quantitative and qualitative seminal works, this paper demonstrates that positive body image is: (i) a multidimensional construct, distinct from negative body image; (ii) a confluence of theoretical disciplines and influences; (iii) protective, with therapeutic capacities; (iv) a positive outcome; (v) young, yet flourishing; and (vi) socially and politically relevant. Thus, complementing what positive body image is, this paper further situates therapeutic practice within the field of positive body image by delineating and contextualising their reciprocal capacities and relevant techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal processes are a key target in counselling and psychotherapy. It is of paramount importance to sharpen their assessment using integrated methods. Hence, this methodological paper describes how fields of research in psychotherapy and neuroimaging can be integrated into one novel complementary neurobehavioural paradigm that can be applied to enhance our understanding of interpersonal processes in psychotherapy. To illustrate this integration, we present selected data from a pre–post pilot study where the authors assessed interpersonal processes in brief treatment for borderline personality disorder using the core conflictual relationship theme, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and outcome questionnaires. To do so, they measured individual changes in neural activity using an fMRI task pre‐ and post‐treatment where clients gave feedback on the emotional valence of sentences extracted from their own Relationship Anecdotes Paradigm interviews mixed with neutral ones. In this paper, using data from two participants of said study, we discuss how to implement this methodology and what can be achieved in terms of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cognitive–developmental theory of 'levels of emotional awareness' (LEA) addresses an individual's capacity to experience and express emotion, a capacity highly relevant to psychotherapy. Previous papers on LEA and psychotherapy addressed the aspect of LEA theory pertaining to the 'trait' (i.e. enduring) aspects of an individual's emotional functioning over time. LEA theory also applies to the construction of emotional experience at any given moment, in which levels emerge or disappear in a process of microgenetic construction as a function of arousal and other variables. This state‐related perspective is supported by recent research showing that people vary in their LEA from moment to moment. Momentary changes in LEA correspond to the variations in lived experience that occur in relationships, including the therapy relationship, and provide the context for corrective emotional experiences that promote change. In this paper, the construction of emotional experience at different levels of organisation is discussed separately in relation to clients and therapists. Key phenomena relevant to psychotherapy include the transition from bodily sensations to specific differentiated emotional feelings, the ability to be aware of multiple feelings that may be contradictory or counter‐intuitive, and the appreciation of how complex combinations of feelings may differ in self and other. This perspective adds to the literature on how the integration of emotion and cognition contributes to change in psychotherapy. The clinical and research implications of this perspective are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal development (PD) groups are routinely used in the training of counsellors and psychotherapists. Experiences during such group processes are thought to contribute to the development of self‐awareness, a quality seen as crucial for good practice in many therapeutic approaches. However, evidence from trainees suggests that the PD group experience may not be a positive or facilitative one for many. We also do not know how trainees, once qualified, process their PD group experiences over time. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study in which 12 experienced therapists were invited to reflect back upon their PD group experiences during their training. Their experiences of PD groups were invited through semi‐structured interviews and the data analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings show that most participants found their PD group experiences to be challenging, and that for some participants this was a welcome and facilitative experience. However, a significant number of participants had negative experiences in their PD groups, which at the time they felt to be damaging and which remained so in their view at the time of interview. Such experiences included feeling re‐traumatised by recalling and sharing old traumas, feeling afraid of the volatility and punitiveness in their group and feeling overlooked or abandoned by the group facilitator. Nevertheless, all participants had made persistent efforts to process these experiences and had drawn from them what they regarded as valuable learning. Recommendations for counselling and psychotherapy training are put forward in the light of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study discusses the current status of evidence‐based psychological therapies for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). It points to the dominance of cognitive‐behavioural therapies (CBTs) and compares this dominance with the position of humanistic‐experiential therapies (HEPs) in this area. The paper hypothesises several reasons for this situation, including historical developments as well as HEPs’ ambivalence around embracing mainstream mental health classification systems, and corresponding types of research. The paper then highlights some recent developments in HEPs for anxiety disorders (particularly emotion‐focused therapy; EFT); developments that are breaking new conceptual grounds while also generating new outcome research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an introduction to theoretically informed qualitative psychotherapy research (QPR). Although QPR researchers have traditionally remained silent on theory, we suggest this has resulted in an implicit and unacknowledged use of theory. We argue instead for a clear articulation of qualitative researchers' theory and outline how theory can be incorporated to inform the entire qualitative research process. This approach assumes the research problem is embedded in a clearly defined and articulated theoretical framework, which also informs data collection and data analysis. We outline how researchers can use explicit theoretical frameworks to inform research question formulation, data collection and data analysis and illustrate this with specific applications of the method in practice. We believe that starting from a declared theoretical framework sets up a dialogue between the research problem, the type of data required and their meaningful analysis and interpretation. This aims not only to achieve greater depth in the final product of research, but also to enhance its utility in terms of practice; it contributes to building, altering and differentiating theory; and it allows for greater transparency by openly articulating the theoretical framework that scaffolds the entirety of the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this methodological paper was to present self‐contempt, and its assessment, in a broad transdiagnostic framework of psychopathology and related to change in psychotherapy. Self‐contempt may be a central phenomenon in many psychological disorders. We outline methodological recommendations for the study of complex transdiagnostic phenomena which involve multilevel biobehavioural responses. Method: We illustrate the assessment of self‐contempt as a complex transdiagnostic phenomenon with a study in which emotion‐eliciting two‐chair dialogues focused on the elaboration of self‐criticism, and an observer‐rated system was applied to assess each client's expressed self‐contempt at the moment of enacted self‐criticism. The client's own self‐contemptuous words were extracted from this self‐critical dialogue and then later presented as part of a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm. Results: This assessment paradigm was applied to a brief treatment for clients with borderline personality disorder, and the results of pre–post change over time in markers of self‐contempt are presented. Conclusions: The importance of the assessment of self‐contempt in an ecologically valid manner, by using individualised stimuli and taking into account multilevel activations, is discussed in the context of a transdiagnostic conception of psychopathology and in the context of change in psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims A study of therapists' experiences of transformation generated conversational moments typical of the experiences being studied. This paper outlines dialogical moves within research conversations and suggests that these contribute to linking thinking and feeling, head and heart, within an intersubjective matrix, which may be therapeutic. Method Video recordings of research conversations were reviewed by researcher and co-researchers using an adaptation of Interpersonal Process Recall, and key moments were analysed dialogically. Findings Following Stern's ( The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life. 2004. New York: W.W. Norton) concept of moments of meeting, additional moments of not-meeting, reflective moments of meeting and shared interest focus were identified, all functioning as building blocks of intersubjective connection and integration. Discussion Reflective moments of meeting in particular appear to be central to integrating thinking and feeling. Transformational opportunities appear to arise from such integration, while their absence seems to arise from a failure to integrate. Implications for practice A therapeutic model is presented focusing on the role of reflection within the intersubjective experiencing of therapist and client. Implications for reflective practice are suggested. Conclusions Attention to dialogical moves demonstrates the potential of research conversations to facilitate transformation for co-researchers via the integration of thinking and feeling in reflection. Further research is suggested to track similar processes in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims & Objectives: This paper critically examines the nature and benefits of a therapeutic alliance created between a fluent, bilingual woman who had suffered a period of extreme bullying and her monolingual therapist. Method: The paper uses a case study approach to consider the underpinning psycho-neurology and describes the theoretical frameworks used to inform the therapeutic process and facilitate recovery. Results: The therapeutic approach proved successful in dealing with the physical, emotional and psychological impact of the bullying and has enabled the subject to return to work successfully. Conclusions: The emotional distancing provided by language switching can be invaluable in enabling a traumatised person to make sense of their experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper describes an approach where disaster-bereaved families gather over three weekends to process and learn about grief together (a collective approach). Method: The article is based on experience related to several disasters in Norway and Finland, using a maritime disaster in which 16 persons lost their lives as a case example. Conclusions: This approach provides an opportunity to help numerous persons simultaneously. It facilitates support, communality and help within a group setting, provides access to self-help methods and allows screening of those in need of further help. Three weekend gatherings were held during the first year following loss of family members. Using plenary sessions, small groups and rituals during weekends, important themes within normal grief reactions over time were addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]