‘It’s heavy, intense, horrendous and nice’: clients’ experiences in two-chair dialogues

ABSTRACTIn this study, we conducted qualitative in-depth interviews to explore how clients experienced working with emotional processing and self-criticism in a two-chair dialogue intervention. Eighteen clients scoring high on self-criticism were interviewed upon completion of a short-term treatment (10–14 sessions) with Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), where the two-chair dialogue was used as the main intervention. A hermeneutic-phenomenological approach guided the research process, while a thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Our analysis revealed that clients who are asked to engage in the two-chair dialogue intervention often experience an embarrassment or awkwardness before they decide to engage. When engaged in the intervention, most clients found it intense and demanding, but also meaningful. A few clients found the intervention too intense to be of use. Many of those who participated reported that they became more aware of the fact that they were active agents wh...