Virtual event.
Genuineness, the capacity to accurately and sincerely represent one’s unfolding experience with another, was famously popularized by Carl Rogers (1957) as one of the three necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic change. In fact, Rogers went so far as to argue that genuineness was the most important. Sixty years later, and considerable research has amassed in the psychotherapy literature that attests to the role of relational depth, the bond subscale of the working alliance, and the real relationship. What is perhaps less recognized are the contributions put forward by depth-oriented psychotherapies to advance this evidence base. From existential-humanistic psychology to the relational turn in psychoanalytic psychology, “I-Thou” encounters continue to surface as paramount to therapeutic change. In this presentation, I will present these contributions and extend them to a model of Critical-Liberation Psychotherapy (Morrill, 2021; Morrill & Comas-Diaz, 2025), articulating the liberatory possibilities embedded in moments of real meeting.
3 continuing education units available through NASW and APA.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:
Define and recognize genuineness and the real relationship as unique psychotherapy constructs.
Evaluate three implications of this evidence base for clinical application in depth psychologies.
Assess and develop an argument around whether cultivating genuine encounters in asymmetrical relationships and liberatory potential within institutional psychotherapy relationships are possible and if so, in what conditions.
Zenobia Morrill, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department and the Associate Director of the Center for Psychological Science at William James College. Her research areas include psychotherapy process, critical and liberation psychology, and qualitative inquiry. She has served as a Research Officer of the United Nations, under the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and was a fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association. In 2023, she was the recipient of the Sigmund Koch award for early career contributions to psychology by Division 24 of the American Psychological Association (APA). Zenobia is also a licensed practicing psychologist and the Senior Research Associate of the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics at Boston College.
References
Gelso, C. J., Kivlighan, D. M., Jr., & Markin, R. D. (2018). The real relationship and itsrole in psychotherapy outcome: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 434–444. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000183
Gelso, C. J., Kivlighan, D. M., Jr., & Markin, R. D. (2019). The real relationship. In J. C. Norcross & M. J. Lambert (Eds.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based therapist contributions (3rd ed., pp. 351–378). Oxford University Press.
Gelso, C. J., & Silberberg, A. (2016). Strengthening the real relationship: What is a psychotherapist to do? Practice Innovations, 1(3), 154–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000024
Kolden, G. G., Wang, C. C., Austin, S. B., Chang, Y., & Klein, M. H. (2019). Congruence/genuineness. In J. C. Norcross & M. J. Lambert (Eds.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based therapist contributions, 3rd ed. (pp. 323–350). Oxford University Press.
Morrill, Z. (2025). Genuineness in Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy. In L. Hoffman & Lac, V. (Eds.), Evidence-Based Foundations of Existential-Humanistic Therapy. APA Books.
Morrill, Z. & Comas-Dìaz, L. (2025). Critical-Liberation Psychotherapy: Unsettling hegemonic power toward liberatory practice. American Psychologist, 80(4), 576–588.http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0001444