Recording therapy sessions: What do clients and therapists really think?

Abstract

Aims: Recording therapy sessions has become part of routine practice amongst trainee psychotherapists. To date most research has focused on the benefits of recording sessions to support clinical supervision. There are few data about the benefits or risks for clients. This study aimed to explore the views of clients who had had their therapy sessions recorded and therapists who had recorded sessions. Design: Five clients and 25 therapists completed a qualitative survey, the results of which were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: All clients and several therapists reported that the recording devices are soon forgotten. Both therapists and clients reported the benefits of recording as being purely for the therapist with none identified for clients. Conclusions: It was observed that clients perhaps did not always understand how recordings were used, suggesting the need for clearer practice guidance.

Keywords:

• recording
• therapy
• counselling
• thematic analysis

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ellie Brown

Biographies

Ellie Brown is a trainee counselling psychologist and senior research associate at the University of the West of England, Bristol. She has published articles in the areas of medication adherence and mental health crisis services. She is currently working on a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) programme grant investigating mental health crisis teams in England

Naomi Moller

Naomi Moller is associate head of department in the Department of Psychology at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Trained as a counselling psychologist, she publishes and teaches in the area of counselling and psychotherapy.

Christine Ramsey-Wade

Christine E. Ramsey-Wade is a senior lecturer in counselling psychology at the University of the West of England, Bristol and a chartered and HPC-registered counselling psychologist at The Priory Hospital Bristol. Her main clinical and research interests are mindfulness and creative writing for therapeutic purposes.