“Big Brother was Watching Me:” A Preliminary Exploration of Discomfort and Emotional Vulnerability When Participating in a Reflecting Team

Abstract

Minimal research exists exploring how emotional vulnerability relates to client and therapist identities. This study illustrates findings from a preliminary exploration of (a) the vulnerabilities clients experience when receiving feedback from a reflecting team and (b) the intersection between vulnerability, sexual orientation, and racial-ethnic minority identities. Using the concept of a gem, or an exceptionally significant excerpt in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), couples discussed the discomfort of emotional vulnerability which was exacerbated by the dissimilarity between their racial-ethnic minority and LGBTQIA + identities and the perceived identities of the reflecting team.

Keywords:

• Emotional vulnerability
• cultural competency
• reflecting teams
• couple therapy