Developing Psychotherapeutic Innovation and Imagination through Phenomenology and Qualitative Research

Del Loewenthal is Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Roehampton, London, UK. He is an existential-analytic psychotherapist, photographer, and chartered psychologist, with a particular interest in phenomenology.Angela Abela is Professor and founding Head of the Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Malta, a clinical psychologist, a UKCP registered family therapist, and a supervisor.

• Introduction: Developing psychotherapeutic innovation and imagination through phenomenology and qualitative research with particular reference to the nature of therapeutic knowledge 1. Psychotherapeutic research and practice: Do we need to talk about ‘efficacy’? 2. Travelling in time: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to examine temporal aspects of the personal experience of issues in health and well-being 3. Uncertainty and existential thinking 4. Using medical records in qualitative research: Advantages and limitations 5. Developing reflexivity and self-compassion in group psychotherapy: A dialogical and narrative approach 6. Exploring the grief journey of bereaved spouses: Insights into the impact of sedation within palliative care 7. “Lost in space and time”: Fathers’ experiences of preterm birth 8. Body as mediator: Case understanding in salutogenic-oriented general practitioner consultation 9. School organisational trauma during student suicide crisis 10. Living with and living by tattoos: Discursive analysis of a bodily practice 11. Towards a psychotherapy publishing ethics concordat 12. Wished I’d been there: Reflections on the special issue’s articles as refracted through my appreciations for qualitative researchers’ innovativeness 13. Reading with love: Developing therapeutic imagination through purposeful engagement with qualitative research Endnote: The possibility of phenomenology and psychotherapeutic knowledge?