“We’re people who don’t touch”: Exploring clinical psychologists’ perspectives on their use of touch in therapy

Abstract

There is a paucity of research that explores the use of touch within psychotherapy from therapists’ perspectives. This qualitative study explored clinical psychologists’ accounts of offering or excluding touch within therapeutic practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six clinical psychologists working within adult mental health services. The interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five superordinate themes emerged from the data: (1) the touch instinct; (2) touch and professional boundaries; (3) individual clients and contexts; (4) the value of touch in therapy and (5) the cost of touch in therapy. It is suggested that the perspectives of professionals and clients be given greater consideration in the future as such open discussion may serve to challenge the taboo status often surrounding the issue of touch, and highlight its potential roles in therapy.

Keywords:

• touch
• boundaries
• clinical psychologists
• interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)