Descriptive Phenomenology of Examples of Dishonesty in Psychotherapy from the Client's Point of View

Abstract

Hossein Alipour and Mahdi Akbari

The present research was conducted with the aim of identifying examples of dishonesty in psychotherapy from the clients' point of view in 2023. The method used in this research is a qualitative, descriptive phenomenology type. The statistical population of this research included all the clients of counseling centers in Amol city in 2023 who participated in this research using non-probability sampling method. The researcher reached information saturation by interviewing 19 clients and 4 more interviews were conducted with the clients, in total 23 people were the sample clients of this study. A 3-question semi-structured interview protocol was used to collect information. The seven-stage descriptive phenomenological method of Collaizi was used for data analysis. The findings showed that dishonesty in the treatment room is inevitable and the reasons for clients' dishonesty include individual reasons such as; sexual experiences and cognitive errors and external reasons including; Family experiences are lived experiences in society and the therapist's reaction. The results showed that it is difficult for the clients to tell about some issues, and most of them hid at least one issue from their therapist. Clients stated the possibility of being judged by the therapist, not trusting the therapist's confidentiality and avoiding feeling shame as the reason for dishonesty.

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