ABSTRACT
‘Relational depth’ is a term coined by Mearns (1996) and it is considered at length in Mearns and Cooper (2005). What is being talked about is a degree of psychological contact between client and therapist which is qualitatively different from the ordinary. It is about high-quality encounter of the kind described by Rogers (1986: 137) as involving ‘presence’ and by Thorne (1991: 73–81) as to do with ‘tenderness’ (Point 25) but which Mearns (1994: 7–8) sees as something more prosaic but no less profound. In a nutshell, the deep personal self-knowledge of the therapist and a willingness to engage with the client wholly and without artifice (and a similar willingness on the part of the client to be ‘real’) brings about a level of contact which is transformative. Relational depth has at least some equivalence with intimacy (in the sense of mutual engagement and openness). Mearns and Cooper (2005: xii) offer the following ‘working definition’ of relational depth: ‘A state of profound contact and engagement between two people, in which each person is fully real with the Other, and able to understand and value the Other’s experiences at a high level.’
