Feeling Offended by Clients: The Experiences of Doctoral Student Therapists.

ATLANTIC Coast (Middle Atlantic States); MIDDLE Atlantic States

Ten doctoral student therapists (8 White, 5 female) in 1 counseling psychology doctoral program located in the Mid-Atlantic United States were interviewed for approximately 1 hour each about their experiences of feeling offended by a client during an individual psychotherapy session. Interview data were analyzed with consensual qualitative research (CQR). Trainee therapists typically felt offended related to their sociocultural identities (e.g., being a woman, LGBTQ+, racial-ethnic minority), felt frozen after the events and uncertain about how to respond, wished they had handled the events differently, and struggled when clients expressed opinions or beliefs that ran counter to their own values. Trainees had difficulty maintaining an empathic, nonjudgmental therapeutic stance where they could both value the client and maintain their own sense of integrity and beliefs about social justice and multiculturalism. Implications for training, practice, and research are provided. Public Significance Statement: Doctoral student therapists reported on instances in which they felt offended by clients related to cultural or value differences. Therapists typically felt frozen and unsure of how to handle such situations, especially given their own countertransferential reactions, but wished they had handled the situations differently. These findings highlight the importance of training to provide therapists with tools to become more self-aware of inadmissible feelings and of alternative ways of handling difficult situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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