‘Most people think you're a fruit loop’: Clients’ experiences of seeking support for anomalous experiences

Abstract

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of clients who report anomalous experiences (AEs) in counselling services, so we are better informed about how therapists have responded to such clients. AEs are defined as those that ‘depart from our own familiar personal experiences or from the more usual, ordinary, and expected experiences of a given culture and time’ (Braud, , p. 107).DesignA qualitative approach was taken involving semi‐structured interviews, and an inductive thematic analysis was conducted on transcripts.MethodSemi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with eight clients who had discussed at least one anomalous experience in counselling.ResultsFour themes were derived from participants’ data which were labelled using short participant extracts: ‘Why are you looking at that airy fairy crap?’, ‘It was like banging your head against a brick wall’, ‘It kind of shut the door’, and ‘Having someone to normalise and say you're not crazy, you're not weird’.ConclusionsFindings highlight the importance for clients of finding an open‐minded and informed counsellor, so they can explore the meaning of the anomalous experience without being ridiculed or pathologised. Implications for both clients and counsellors are discussed in terms of the accessibility of counselling services to meet the needs of diverse clients and the growing field of clinical parapsychology.

"It's made me reassess what I think and believe." An Exploratory Study of Therapists' Experiences with Their Clients' Deathbed Visions, Deathbed Coincidences, and After-Death Communication

“…UPR enables the therapist to be non-judgmental toward the client's experience, thereby creating a safe environment in which clients can discuss their experience without it being devalued (Golsworthy & Coyle, 2010). This approach, with its non-pathologizing orientation, allows the therapist to avoid judging the client as mentally ill, the fear of which is one reason why clients are reluctant to disclose spiritual experiences to therapists (Roxburgh & Evenden, 2016b).…”

“…Therapists can support clients in making sense of and integrating their experience into their grieving process through normalization of the experience by reassuring clients that these experiences are a common and normal part of the grieving process (Roxburgh & Evenden, 2016b). In turn, the comfort derived from making sense of and integrating a DBV, DBC, or ADC experience may play a role in grief resolution by "soothing broken hearts instantly" (Kwilecki, 2011, p. 225;Taylor, 2005).…”

“…This type of experience with a therapist can lead to clients becoming reluctant to discuss their experience due to concerns of being judged, ridiculed, or viewed as mentally unwell (Keen et al, 2013). Roxburgh and Evenden (2016b) found clients who have had transpersonal experiences-including psychic experiences, mystical experiences, peak experiences, out-of-body experiences, hauntings, past-life experiences, synchronicity, spiritual crisis, near-death experiences, and unusual death-related experience-felt their therapist ignored or dismissed their experience, felt unable to explore their experiences further, and consequently ended counseling prematurely.…”

“…This process provided a flexible framework for the interview that enabled exploration of other areas of interest as they arose (Oxley, 2016;Wertz, 2005). To improve the reliability and consistency of the interviews across participants (Smith et al, 2012;Smith & Osborn, 2008), an interview schedule adapted from Roxburgh and Evenden (2016b) was used. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the interviews were recorded electronically using a secure online video platform and stored securely on a password protected computer.…”