PHENOMENAL PATTERNING AND GUIDED IMAGERY IN COUNSELING - A METHODOLOGICAL PILOT

Phenomenology has evolved significantly as a foundation for counseling over the last half century through the innovative thinking of Carl Rogers. Recent methodological advances of Giorgi and Polkinghorne have provided a general research model for extending Rogers's work. A counseling approach was developed by the authors for explicating patterned ways of perceiving, thinking, and doing. Guided imagery was used as a means by which a client's phenomenal patterning was revealed. Sequences of inclusion and exclusion behavior within the guided images were related to self‐report data as a way of formulating initial descriptions of personal involvement patterns. These descriptions were found to be isomorphic. Discussion focuses on how phenomenological methods and research findings can be used in counseling. 1990 American Counseling Association