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Is touch a valid therapeutic intervention? Early returns from a qualitative study of therapists' views
Author(s) -
Tune David
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
counselling and psychotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1746-1405
pISSN - 1473-3145
DOI - 10.1080/14733140112331385020
Subject(s) - psychology , intervention (counseling) , therapeutic touch , sort , space (punctuation) , psychotherapist , therapeutic relationship , qualitative research , applied psychology , medicine , alternative medicine , sociology , computer science , psychiatry , pathology , information retrieval , operating system , social science
Findings are reported from six semi‐structured interviews with experienced psychotherapists, focusing on the reasons for using touch and the sort of touch used. They suggest that there is a distinction being made by therapists between ‘social space’ and ‘therapeutic space’, and a different view of touch taken if it is judged by the therapist to be ‘out of the therapeutic environment’. Whether or not touch was initiated by the therapist or the client would also appear to influence its further discussion by the therapist, either in processing it with the client or in supervision. What also emerged from the interviews was the finding that an exploration of touch in supervision was unusual. The implications for practice, supervision and training are discussed as areas for further exploration in the main survey, which will be conducted in the second year of the research.