ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses how therapeutic immediacy can be utilized to both deepen the therapeutic process as well as make meaning of emotional transactions, such as tears, in therapy. As the therapeutic relationship is often experienced as an intimate, emotionally charged, asymmetrical, and nurturant relationship, psychotherapy is likely to activate many attachment-related patterns of thought, feeling, and conflict. Typical examples of therapeutic immediacy include: exploring parallels of how interpersonal and affective themes covered in other relationships during a session might be expressed or occur in the therapeutic relationship; expressing an immediate in-session affect or association regarding the therapeutic relationship or treatment process; asking one member of the therapeutic relationship to take the perspective of the other; asking one or both parties to reflect on/process what is happening in the immediate therapeutic interaction or feeling in the room; exploring emotional experiences in the relationship that might have been avoided or gone unrecognized and addressing a rupture event.