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How Do Clients and Therapists Utilize Positive Emotion

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How Do Clients and Therapists Utilize Positive Emotion HOW DO CLIENTS AND THERAPISTS UTILIZE POSITIVE EMOTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY SESSIONS by Dianne Kathleen Westwood B.N., McGill University, 1974 M.Ed., McGill University, 1979 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Counselling Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2016 © Dianne Kathleen Westwood, 2016 ii Abstract There are few studies in the literature that examine in-session emotional processes from the perspective of both client and therapist in psychotherapy. The aim of this project was to provide a rich and empathic understanding of the processes clients and therapists engaged in while working with clients’ positive emotional experience. The research question that guided the study was, “How do clients and therapists utilize positive emotion when they perceive it has arisen for the client in psychotherapy sessions.” A multiple case study approach (Stake, 2006) with a philosophical hermeneutic theoretical framework (Gadamer, 1975/2004) was used to examine the therapeutic conversations of three psychotherapy dyads. Interpersonal process recall interviewing (IPR, Bloom, 1954; Kagan, 1984) was conducted with individual therapy partners while they watched a video recording of their therapy session. The therapy sessions and interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed by adapting Braun and Clarke’s (2006) method of thematic analysis within a hermeneutic interpretivist lens. The analysis found that the therapeutic relationship and conversations formed the container within which therapy work, and its co-created meaning occurred. Considerable value and care was afforded to this connection by dyad partners. The therapeutic conversations revealed that therapy dyad partners had a significant impact on one another, across emotional, aesthetic, cultural, and moral domains. It also revealed that the privileging of positive emotional processes steered the direction of both the therapy sessions and research interviews. In addition, six common themes emerged across the three cases as follows: a) paying attention to safety; b) fueling the tank of togetherness; c) trusting the process and seeing where it leads; d) making implicit experience explicit and experiential to expand awareness and increase understanding; e) undoing aloneness; and f) affirming, anchoring, and appreciating the work done together. The implications for counselling practice and future research are discussed. iii Preface This dissertation is the original work of the author, D. Westwood. This research project was conducted with the approval of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Office of Research Services Ethics Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BREB), certificate number H11—03288. Participant interviews and data analysis were carried out by the author. During the data analysis three expert peer co-researchers reviewed, validated and provided feedback on the analysis at several key points during the process. They were: Yaari (Brenda) Dyer (Ph.D., Lecturer, Counselling Psychology, University of British Columbia), Emily Kristina Koert (Ph.D., Counselling Psychology, University of British Columbia), and Hilary Mary Pearson, (Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, University of British Columbia). iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Preface ............................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................1 Approaching the Research Question....................................................................................2 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................3 Rationale ..............................................................................................................................3 Psychotherapy Process and Outcome ..................................................................................4 Emotion Defined ..................................................................................................................6 Positive Emotion Defined ........................................................................................9 Benefits of Positive Emotion .............................................................................................10 Emotion in Psychotherapy .................................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................................13 Psychotherapy Process Research .......................................................................................13 Emotion Theory and Foundational Research.....................................................................17 Terms and Definitions............................................................................................17 Feeling Component ................................................................................................21 Motivation Component ..........................................................................................28 Benefits of Positive Emotion .............................................................................................34 The Broaden and Build Theory..............................................................................34 Undoing Hypothesis...................................................................................35 Broadening Hypothesis ..............................................................................36 Build Hypothesis........................................................................................38 Upward Spiral Effect .................................................................................40 Positive Emotion and Success ...............................................................................44 Positive Emotion and Health .................................................................................46 Emotion in Psychotherapy .................................................................................................47 Assumptions about Positive and Negative Emotion in Psychotherapy .................47 Principles of Working with Emotion in Psychotherapy ........................................50 Arousal and Experiencing ..........................................................................52 Awareness, Expression, and Reflection .....................................................55 Emotional Regulation ................................................................................59 Changing Emotion with Emotion ..............................................................64 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................67 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................................69 Rationale for the Methodology and Procedures.................................................................69 Situating the Inquiry: Conceptual Framework...................................................................70 Interpretivism .........................................................................................................70 v Phenomenology......................................................................................................71 Hermeneutics .........................................................................................................72 Gadamerian Hermeneutics .........................................................................73 Situating Myself as an Inquirer in the Research ................................................................75 Theoretical Pre-understandings..............................................................................75 Personal Experiential and Professional Pre-understandings ..................................78 Research Methods ..............................................................................................................80 Multiple Case Study Approach ..............................................................................80 Interpersonal Process Recall Interviewing.............................................................81 Thematic Analysis..................................................................................................82 Participants.........................................................................................................................83
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