A phenomenological inquiry into how transcendent experiences among existential therapists influence their practice

The experience of there being something ‘more’ to life that opens one into the infinite lies at the heart of contemplation among mystics and poets across times and cultures. Such transcendent experiences have been reported to be prevalent also in the general populations. Yet, the phenomenon is little studied in psychotherapy research, from the lived perspectives of therapists who have intimate encounters with such experiences. Addressing this lacuna, this phenomenological study investigates the research question, ‘How do transcendent experiences as encountered among existential therapists influence their therapeutic practice?’ This question was explored in semi-structured interviews with seven existential therapists, whose accounts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The aim was to generate both descriptive and conceptual insights into how the therapists experienced, described and made sense of their transcendent experiences and their therapeutic impacts, interpreted analytically within an existential-intersubjective framework. Four superordinate themes were identified from the IPA analysis, conveying the therapist-participants' core experience: (I) ‘Transcendent experiences: being opened into an all-encompassing Other’; (II) ‘Personal transformation: radical opening to life’; (III) ‘Therapeutic deepening: the practice of radical love and presence’; and (IV) ‘Existential practice as spiritual practice?’ The findings are brought into dialogue with literature in existential psychotherapy and philosophy. Theoretical generalisability is suggested for several key discoveries, with implications for therapeutic practice and training: the disclosive power of transcendent experiences as a way of feeling-and-knowing a larger/deeper dimension of life as the Other; the transformative potentials of such disclosure in fostering experiential-relational depth; the generative potentials of therapeutically engaging this depth dimension through radical love and presence grounded in attunement to the Other; and an approach to existential therapy as spiritual practice. The conclusion calls for integrating spirituality in therapist training via experiential and introspective inquiries; and for foundational philosophical-methodological innovations and critical sociocultural-political engagement.