Constructing Client Agency in Psychotherapy Research
Abstract
Certain researchers lay claim to focusing on client agency and offer examples of client agency in their work. However, research that focuses on client agency does so in very different ways. In the psychotherapy research literature, there are few reflections about the various ways in which client agency is constructed. This article offers such reflections. First, an existential definition of agency is introduced. Then, two general models that grasp aspects of agency are presented. Differences between them are highlighted. A new model is then presented that identifies six ways in which psychotherapy research constructs client agency. Central examples from the research literature are presented to describe the new model.
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The existence or expression of service users' recovery-related agency is not limited to the context of services, but is also in operation in their choosing to use or not to use any potentially available resources (e.g., the help of loved ones and peers), as well as in their independent recovery-related efforts.
“However, the existence or expression of service users’ recovery-related agency is not limited to the context of services, but is also in operation in their choosing to use or not to use any potentially available resources (e.g., the help of loved ones and peers), as well as in their independent recovery-related efforts [15, 22].”
From Suicide attempt survivors’ recovery-related agency in the relational context of services: a qualitative analysis (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
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“Hence, a client’s agency in therapy includes, but moves beyond, their involvement in the conduct of therapy sessions and involves levels of engagement with interacting contexts (Mackrill, 2009)3.”
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Mackrill, T. (2008) · British Journal of Guidance and Counselling · doi:10.1080/03069880802343837 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Client agency is apparent in psychotherapy research that describes and analyses how clients do, or do not, affect things, others, themselves, or their lives (see Mackrill, in press ).”
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“The therapy-related processing subscale is consistent with Mackrill (2009), who noted that patients’ agency occurs beyond the therapy session and may encompass self-reflection, the establishment of connections among experiences in different contexts, and the use of these experiences to elicit…”
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“…someone as a social actor means to acknowledge that the person’s actions are informed by that individual’s intentions Furthermore, agency is related to affecting things, others, oneself, or one’s life (Mackrill, 2009), and to being able to exert an influence over one’s own experience (Adler, 2013).”
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“The term agency covers a complex diversity of actions and mental conditions, and there is little consensus as to how agency should be defined (Mackrill, 2009).”
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“The client has an impact on things, others, themselves, or their lives (Mackrill, 2009).”
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“Agency as a construct has different uses in psychotherapy research (Mackrill, 2009).”
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“The main difference is that the current model focuses on painful emotional experiences and themes that arise in different phases of a patientʼs Mackrill (2009) and Wahlström and Seilonen (2016) s sense of agency.”
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“AGENCY IN COUNSELING AND THERAPY Mackrill (2009) identified a number of ways in which psychotherapy research constructs client agency.”
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“We define agency in psychotherapy from an existential view, as a cycle between unaware intentional actions and moments of self-awareness and reflection informing each other (Rennie, 2000, 2001; Mackrill, 2009).”
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“Thus, our microanalyses put pragmatic and conversational ‘legs’ on client agency, in ways more abstractly described by Mackrill [45], or retrospectively accounted for by Rennie’s [4] clients.”
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“It is assumed that each of the participants had their own agency (Mackrill, 2009) in developing their preferences.”
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“In keeping with the narrative approach, the outset stories of DD offenders are considered as a point of departure in the potential change process and agency enhancement (Mackrill, 2009).”
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“Restoring clients’ disturbed sense of agency has, from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, been seen as a core goal of psychotherapy (Wahlström, 2006a; Williams and Levitt, 2007; Mackrill, 2009; Adler, 2012; Wahlström and Seilonen, 2016; Gorlin and Békés, 2021).”
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“…of service users’ recovery-related agency is not limited to the context of services, but is also in operation in their choosing to use or not to use any potentially available resources (e.g., the help of loved ones and peers), as well as in their independent recov-ery-related efforts [15, 22].”
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ประสบการณทางจตใจเกยวกบการมสวนรวมในการปรกษาเชงจตวทยาของผรบบรการ
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“This perspec - tive contrasts with Rennie’s ( 2000, 2001) in-session construction of agency (see Mackrill, 2009a) and challenges the common assumption that change originates within the session space and is subsequently transferred to other life domains.”
Influential
- Authors
- Mackrill, T.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Mackrill, Thomas
- ORCID
- Mackrill, Thomas
- Venue
- Journal of Humanistic Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-06-03
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 193-206
- ISSN
- 0022-1678 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-650X
- OpenAlex
- W1993656824
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 1.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Humanistic Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
- Keywords
- client agency, psychotherapy research, client participation
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