(Though maybe I should say that the therapist needs to either experience unconditional positive regard toward the client, or successfully deceive themselves and the client into thinking that they do. Heh.)
I mean, technically they don’t even need to deceive themselves. They can be consciously judgy as f**k as long as they can mask it effectively. Psychopaths might make for amazing therapists in this one way!
True, though I think that judgment tends to be hard to effectively mask in this kind of context (though maybe psychopaths would be able to fake it; I don’t know). At least my own experience inclines me to agree with this person:
I’ve worked with and/or done swaps with a lot of different practitioners (IFS, aletheia, VIEW, regular talk therapy, bodywork, voice work etc), and what I found to be the most effective element of their skill set (for me) is: non-judgmental, loving presence…
many times I have explored the same topic with two different practitioners within a few days of each other; and it’s in those cases that the impact of the difference in the quality of non-judgmental loving presence is most noticeable.
the degree to which the quality of the presence is non-judgmental can be VERY subtle, but the system can pick up on it. it might not even be a strong enough signal to notice it consciously, but it will greatly impact how the session unfolds.
I mean, technically they don’t even need to deceive themselves. They can be consciously judgy as f**k as long as they can mask it effectively. Psychopaths might make for amazing therapists in this one way!
True, though I think that judgment tends to be hard to effectively mask in this kind of context (though maybe psychopaths would be able to fake it; I don’t know). At least my own experience inclines me to agree with this person: