"For Me It Was a Key Moment of Therapy": Corrective Experience From the Client's Perspective

Abstract

Despite recent attempts to develop a consensus definition, questions still remain as to what constitutes corrective experiences (CEs) in psychotherapy and how clients perceive them. This qualitative study assessed clients´ first person accounts of CEs associated with their own treatment-related changes. Participants were 8 clients in private psychotherapy in Buenos Aires. Treatment, by therapists from diverse theoretical backgrounds, varied from 4 to 24 months. The Patients´ Perceptions of Corrective Experiences in Individual Therapy interview protocol was used to assess clients´ perceptions of CEs at posttreatment. All interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed and submitted to a 2-stage thematic analysis to assess CEs and the contextual factors that contributed to them. Of the 8 participants, 5 narrated stories about CEs that changed the way they thought about themselves and their behavior. Additionally, clients highlighted disconfirmation of therapist role expectations and surprise regarding therapists´ actions and behaviors as mechanisms of these corrective moments.