On this episode of text.soul.culture, Dr. J. Derek McNeil, Acting President and Provost, talks with Dr. Roy Barsness, Professor of Counseling Psychology, about his experience as a therapist and what has led to his development of a unique, relationally focused modality of psychodynamic therapy.

When Dr. Barsness first began practicing, he was eager to try all of the newest methodology he had been learning in school. However, his very first patient surprised him when she asked him to put all his tools away and just listen to her story.

Dr. Barsness: 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about doing something to someone, it鈥檚 not about applying, it鈥檚 really about presence.鈥�

This therapeutic orientation of presence with another person and allowing space for interaction is central to the Christian worldview. 鈥淭he Christian story is a story that鈥檚 lived in relationship and in the now. It鈥檚 an embodied theology and not a theology of just my own salvation.鈥�

Dr. Barsness acknowledges the difficulty of pinning down the effectiveness of a methodology based on relationships: 鈥淭hat is the hardest leap, to say, 鈥楥an I really say what I think is going on?鈥� The reason it鈥檚 been hard is because we鈥檝e set up the therapist as the expert, so that what I say has to have a truth to it. Whereas what I鈥檓 saying is, we say what we say, and it鈥檚 then surrendered into what I call the potential space of 鈥榳e鈥�, for the patient and the therapist to work it. Rather than landing it, like 鈥楾his is what it is鈥�.鈥�

This 鈥減otential space of we鈥� is one of the guiding principles of Dr. Barsness鈥� work. It is essential for the therapist to bring their full self to the relationship

Dr. Barsness: 鈥淥ne of the things I鈥檝e discovered is how scared people are to be who they are. Consequently, there are all these defense mechanisms and all these issues of shame and all these hidden ways of being.鈥�

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