‘Most people think you're a fruit loop’: Clients’ experiences of seeking support for anomalous experiences

Abstract

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of clients who report anomalous experiences (AEs) in counselling services, so we are better informed about how therapists have responded to such clients. AEs are defined as those that ‘depart from our own familiar personal experiences or from the more usual, ordinary, and expected experiences of a given culture and time’ (Braud, , p. 107).DesignA qualitative approach was taken involving semi‐structured interviews, and an inductive thematic analysis was conducted on transcripts.MethodSemi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with eight clients who had discussed at least one anomalous experience in counselling.ResultsFour themes were derived from participants’ data which were labelled using short participant extracts: ‘Why are you looking at that airy fairy crap?’, ‘It was like banging your head against a brick wall’, ‘It kind of shut the door’, and ‘Having someone to normalise and say you're not crazy, you're not weird’.ConclusionsFindings highlight the importance for clients of finding an open‐minded and informed counsellor, so they can explore the meaning of the anomalous experience without being ridiculed or pathologised. Implications for both clients and counsellors are discussed in terms of the accessibility of counselling services to meet the needs of diverse clients and the growing field of clinical parapsychology.