Multiple selves: emotions in compassion-focused therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Multiple Selves: working with emotions in compassion-focused therapy
IRAS ID
250657
Contact name
Tobyn Bell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Derby University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The study will investigate clients' experiences of a specific intervention during a course of compassion-focused therapy (CFT). The intervention is part of routine clinical practice when using CFT. It involves the use of chair-work: a therapeutic intervention that requires clients to move between chairs, identifying and embodying different aspects of their 'self' or experience. This chair-work intervention involves the client enacting different emotions in separate chairs (anger, anxiety and sadness). The research will focus on clients with depression, shame and self-criticism in a primary care NHS setting. Participants will be offered a short interview after the intervention and their answers will be transcribed and analysed in order to understand their experiences. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be used for the analysis. IPA is a well established qualitative research method for exploring and understanding individual experience and meaning-making. In addition to interviewing the clients receiving the intervention, the therapists providing the intervention will also be interviewed about their perception of the client's experience.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SW/0215
Date of REC Opinion
17 Sep 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion