Exploring the meaning in meaningful coincidences: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of synchronicity in therapy

‘It’s about having exposure to this’: investigating the training needs of therapists in relation to the issue of anomalous experiences

“…Moreover, they also found that 83% of health professionals had not taken part in any courses about these topics and that 35% expressed a need for more training in this area. This is similar to research conducted on the prevalence and phenomenology of synchronicity experiences (SEs) in the therapeutic setting, which found that 44% of a sample of 226 therapists had experienced SEs in the therapeutic setting and that 67% felt that SEs could be useful for therapy, but that these experiences came as a shock to therapists and challenged their concept of reality (Roxburgh, Ridgway, & Roe, 2015;Roxburgh, Ridgway, &Roe, 2016). As such, there seems to be a need to provide accurate and reliable information about AEs for mental health professionals who might counsel clients who report such issues (and who might also have these experiences themselves).…”

Whose voice are we hearing, really?

“…A natural comparator with the paper described above would be the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of synchronicity in therapy (Roxburgh et al, 2015). From what I understand, SEs are experiences that stand out from the crowd -they have an intense felt quality to them that a qualitative interview can elicit and explore openly.…”

“…The differences between them are huge -in terms of focus, scope, methodology and style. Whereas one article immerses itself in therapists' experiences of synchronistic experiences (Roxburgh, Ridgway, & Roe, 2015) another turns a narrow analytical gaze at the conversations between patients and their doctors (Davidsen & Fogtmann Fosgerau, 2015), eschewing content for structure. So, in preparing my commentary, I found myself treating the articles individually as I struggled to say anything coherent about them as a whole.…”

The impact of event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief on attributions towards a depicted remarkable coincidence experience: Two studies examining the misattribution hypothesis

“…People tend to recall coincidences that appear, on the surface, to be incredibly unlikely. These so‐called remarkable coincidence experiences (RCEs) are noteworthy because they are actually very common and are usually personally significant and/or meaningful for the experient (Henry, , ; Roxburgh, Ridgway, & Roe, ). In one large‐scale British survey, Henry () found almost everyone sampled (92%) reported having at least one ‘spontaneous association’ such as thinking about a person just before they unexpectedly telephoned.…”

“…Methodological issues and future research ideas are also discussed.People tend to recall coincidences that appear, on the surface, to be incredibly unlikely. These so-called remarkable coincidence experiences (RCEs) are noteworthy because they are actually very common and are usually personally significant and/or meaningful for the experient 1 (Henry, 1993(Henry, , 2005Roxburgh, Ridgway, & Roe, 2015). In one large-scale British survey, Henry (1993) found almost everyone sampled (92%) reported having at…”