Practicing immediacy with doctoral trainees

The study: Seven doctoral student therapists took part in an 8-hour workshop, four individual training sessions and four homework sessions focused on immediacy.

What they found: Trainees found the training helpful, especially for noticing and managing the emotions and countertransference that had kept them from using immediacy. Their confidence in using the skill rose. Therapist-rated working alliance improved slightly; client-rated alliance did not change.

Why it matters for practice: Some skills are blocked less by knowledge than by the therapist's own reactions. Practice that works on those reactions may open up skills that trainees avoid.

Hill, C. E., Kivlighan, D. M., III, Rousmaniere, T., Kivlighan, D. M., Jr., Gerstenblith, J. A., & Hillman, J. W. (2020). Deliberate practice for the skill of immediacy: A multiple case study of doctoral student therapists and clients. Psychotherapy, 57(4), 587–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000247