Intervention-oriented client-centred psychotherapy

1. Introduction

Version followed: Jobst Finke's technique-explicit, disorder-related Gesprächspsychotherapie (client-centred psychotherapy) as set out in Empathie und Interaktion (1994), Gesprächspsychotherapie: Grundlagen und spezifische Anwendungen (3rd ed., 2004) and Personzentrierte Psychotherapie und Beratung (2nd ed., 2024), with operational detail taken from Finke's 2006 depression paper (PERSON) and 2020 relationship paper (GPB). The 2004 book's chapters on technique are not drawn on directly. Where Finke changed the order or labels of his stages between editions, this guide follows the 2004/2006 version.

What it is. Jobst Finke (German psychiatrist and psychotherapist) developed a version of Rogers' client-centred therapy that turns the three core conditions into named, teachable intervention forms at graded depths, and adapts them to particular disorders (depression, anxiety, somatoform pain, personality disorders, paranoid schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, eating disorders), alongside group, couple, family and dream work [source: Thieme 2004 TOC; Reinhardt 2024 TOC]. "Intervention-oriented" is a descriptive label. In the sources, Finke describes his approach as an experience-centred, relationship- and clarification-oriented therapy and as a störungsbezogen (disorder-related) approach. The exact phrase "interventionsorientiert" was not found [uncertain]. A related Finke title is Beziehung und Intervention (1999) [source: Finke 2006 references].

How change happens. Symptoms arise from incongruence: a gap between the self-concept and organismic experience (feelings and needs) that the person usually does not consciously notice. Primary incongruence comes from internalised conditions of worth. Secondary incongruence is set off by a life event and is often where symptoms begin [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe]. The therapist reduces incongruence in two ways [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020]:

In the alter-ego relationship, the therapist works through graded empathic understanding, so that feelings and needs at the edge of awareness become symbolised and accepted.
In the dialogue relationship, the therapist works through relationship clarification and genuine self-disclosure, which gives the client a corrective experience of relationship.

Finke quotes Rogers' view that real change comes through experience in a relationship [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe].

2. Framework

Finke does not give a fixed, numbered phase protocol in the sources. The structure has four parts: assessment and indication, a graded progression in depth of understanding, a progression from alter-ego work to dialogue work, and disorder-specific adaptations [source: Stumm 2005 review; Finke 2006]. The phases below assemble these elements. The sequence is Finke's; the phase labels are this guide's [synthesis].

Phase 0: Assessment, diagnosis and indication

Goal: Describe the incongruence, the self-concept and the client's relationship concept.
What to assess: Self-worth, self-perception, identity, self-control, self-ideal and defence. Note whether the self is fragile (low tolerance for anxiety, frustration or ambivalence). Ask whether the incongruence is primary or secondary and which life event triggered it. Map attachment-based relationship expectations, for example reading kindness as a facade [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe, ch. 2].
Format: Finke keeps a role for diagnosis, including disorder diagnosis, because it guides which intervention forms to emphasise. Rogers rejected status diagnosis [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe; Stumm 2005].
Session counts: The sources give none [uncertain]. Format is individual face-to-face talk therapy. Group, couple and family formats have their own chapters, which are not drawn on.

Phase 1: Stabilising and supportive (when needed)

When: For severely depressed or acutely destabilised clients who cannot yet reflect on their experience.
Goal: Acknowledgment, solidarity, confirmation of the suffering, and later encouragement.
How: Supportive responses are interspersed with empathic understanding so that the client is not overwhelmed [source: Finke 2006].
Move on when: The client can describe their own experience reflectively instead of only reporting distress or hopelessness [synthesis].

Phase 2: Empathic understanding in graded depth (alter-ego work)

Goal: Move from well-symbolised feelings toward feelings and needs that are only partly symbolised.
How: Work through the stages of empathic understanding (section 4, A1 to A6), roughly in order, over the course of therapy and within single episodes. Therapy moves from feelings that are clearly symbolised to those that only appear at the edge of awareness as treatment proceeds [source: Finke 2006, citing Finke 2004].
Defence: Work on defences in small steps, close to experience [source: Finke 2004 p. 64 as quoted in Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Move to deeper stages when: The client takes up the current stage, elaborates it and does not retract or defend. Address a theme only once the client can bear it, following Swildens' process orientation as Finke uses it [source: Finke 2006].

Phase 3: Relationship clarification and dialogue (dialogue work)

Goal: Clarify and correct stereotyped expectations of relationships in the here and now with the therapist, and give a corrective relationship experience through the therapist's genuineness.
Relationship clarification: Can begin early whenever the client addresses the relationship.
Self-disclosure and confrontation: Generally come only after the therapist knows the client and their resilience, and once trust is established [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
In depression: Finke alternates short empathic phases (about 5–10 minutes) with dialogue interventions [source: Finke depression chapter in Stumm & Keil 2014, as quoted in Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].

Phase 4: Biographical integration and consolidation

Goal: Link present experience and relationship patterns to life history, and anchor insights emotionally, for example by returning to imagery [source: Finke 2006; Leseprobe Finke 2013].
Ending: Criteria for ending are not specified in the sources [uncertain]. A practical marker is that the client can explore a newly emerging feeling without the therapist's help and can name the feeling, its link to their self-concept and its history [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

All principles below come from Finke's sources as tagged. Each one-line practical meaning is this guide's paraphrase.

Unconditional acceptance (Bedingungsfreies Akzeptieren). Accept the client's experience without making regard depend on it. In Finke's version it is made explicit through care and solidarity, confirming and encouraging. Practically: acceptance is shown actively in words, not only in attitude [source: Stumm 2005; Finke 2006].
Empathic understanding (Einfühlendes Verstehen) as a graded technique. Empathy is a set of responses at different depths, not one way of reflecting. Practically: choose deliberately how deep each response goes [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Genuineness (Echtheit). Verbal and nonverbal expression should match. Long-lasting hidden incongruence in the therapist will be sensed and undermines therapy. Practically: do not hide persistent negative feelings; make them transparent in a usable form [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2011].
Two relationship concepts. In the alter-ego relationship the therapist sets their own self aside. In the dialogue relationship the therapist meets the client person to person. Relationship clarification sits between them. Practically: in each moment, ask which mode the client needs [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2006].
Reflected influence instead of strict non-directiveness. Finke considers a strict non-influence paradigm untenable. The therapist's influence should be reflected on and controlled so that it supports what the client experiences as their own. Practically: own your steering of the process, but never prescribe content [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe]. Biermann-Ratjen describes this line of development as directive about the process, not about content [source: Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Intuition balanced by reflexivity. Rogers emphasised whole-organism, pre-reflective responsiveness. Finke balances this with reflection and planning. Practically: respond spontaneously, then check the response against your understanding of the case [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe].
Disorder-related adaptation. The core conditions are weighted and expressed differently for different disorders. Practically: let the diagnosis shape which interventions you emphasise [source: Thieme 2004 TOC; Finke 2006].
Readiness and dosage. Address a theme only when the client can bear it. Self-disclosure requires the right indication, timing, dosage and careful wording. Practically: titrate depth to the client's resilience [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
Small steps with defences. Bring the client toward insight gradually and close to experience. Practically: never jump to the deepest interpretation [source: Finke 2004 p. 64 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Never overhear or dismiss a relationship address. Finke calls missing a direct relationship address a serious error, and dismissing it worse. Practically: always take up remarks aimed at you [source: Finke 2020].
Do not answer distance with distance. Practically: when the client withdraws, name the distance empathically instead of withdrawing yourself [source: Finke 2020].
Accept being the object of fantasies. Practically: invite the client's fantasies about you rather than correcting them [source: Finke 2020].
Understanding as consensus. The meaning of feelings and images is worked out together and stays open to other readings. Practically: offer understandings tentatively and let the client correct them [source: e-bookshelf Leseprobe Finke 2013/2020].
Images before concepts. Do not translate imagery into concepts too quickly, or parts of the experience are lost. Practically: stay with the image before naming its meaning [source: Leseprobe Finke 2013].
The therapist as an empathic companion. Finke uses the image of a sympathetic double (mitfühlender Doppelgänger) who encourages the client's inner dialogue. Practically: help the client talk to themselves more openly [source: Finke 2011].

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory is organised under Finke's three therapy principles: empathic understanding (A), unconditional acceptance (B) and genuineness/dialogue (C). It then adds defence work, imagery and dream work (D), and disorder-specific patterns (E).

Versions of the stage list. Finke's numbering of the empathy stages varies by source:

Empathie und Interaktion (1994, p. 49) has five stages, as summarised by Spielhofer (1999).
The 2004 book has five, as listed by Stumm (2005): re-accentuating repetition, situation-related, self-concept-related and organism-related understanding, then biographical interpretation.
Finke (2006) lists six, adding taking up the dominant feeling as a separate step.

This guide follows the 2006 list of six [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005; Spielhofer 1999].

German example quotes are Finke's own, cited to the paper they appear in, with the English as this guide's translation. All other example wording is illustrative.

Finke (2006) illustrates the six stages with a single client statement: a woman describing her mother's reproachful look. The examples below follow that illustration.

A1. Re-accentuating (empathic) repetition (Umakzentuierendes / einfühlendes Wiederholen)

Purpose: Show the client they have been heard. Shift the emphasis slightly toward the experiential side of what was said, so that the client keeps exploring. This is the entry level, used throughout therapy and especially early on [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Steps:
1. Listen for the core of the statement.
2. Say it back in your own words, close to the client's.
3. Move the emphasis from event to experience, or from what others did to what it did to the client.
4. Pause and let the client correct you or continue.
Example language: Finke: "Diese Vorwurfshaltung hat Sie fortgetrieben." ("That reproachful attitude drove you away.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "So after the meeting you just had to get out of the building."
Watch for: Pure parroting (no shift in emphasis), which feels mechanical. Leading too far ahead of the client. It is working if the client elaborates in their own words or starts talking about feelings [synthesis].

A2. Taking up the dominant feeling (Aufgreifen des vorherrschenden Gefühls)

Purpose: Name the feeling that dominates the account, so that the client turns from the narrative toward experiencing it [source: Finke 2006]. In the 1994 and 2004 lists this step is not shown as a separate stage [uncertain].
Steps:
1. Identify the strongest, most clearly expressed feeling.
2. Name it in vivid, intensity-matched language.
3. Allow time for the client to feel and confirm or modify it.
4. Optionally circle its range of meaning (pre-logical understanding, see D3).
Example language: Finke: "Sie hätten überschäumen können vor Wut." ("You could have boiled over with rage.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "There's a lot of anger in this, as if it's still burning now."
Watch for: Naming a feeling the client is not ready to own; they may retract it (see D3). It is working if the client's affect becomes more present and their speech slows or deepens [synthesis].

A3. Concretising / situation-related understanding (Konkretisierendes / situationsbezogenes Verstehen)

Purpose: Clarify the concrete situational trigger of the feeling (what exactly, when, with whom), so that vague experience becomes specific and accessible [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Steps:
1. Notice when the client speaks in general or abstract terms.
2. Reflect the specific trigger, or invite the client to focus on it.
3. Link the trigger to the feeling.
Example language: Finke: "Was Sie so aus der Fassung brachte, war der anklagende Blick Ihrer Mutter." ("What threw you was your mother's accusing look.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "It was the moment he looked at his phone while you were talking that got to you."
Watch for: This turning into fact-finding questioning. Keep the focus experiential. It is working if the client recalls sensory or situational detail and the feeling becomes clearer [synthesis].

A4. Self-concept-related understanding (Selbstkonzeptbezogenes Verstehen)

Purpose: Address self-reflexive feelings: how the client evaluates their own experience or behaviour (shame, embarrassment, guilt, pride), and how the self-ideal judges the organismic reaction. This is where incongruence first becomes visible [source: Finke 2006; Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe].
Steps:
1. Listen for evaluations of self, such as "I shouldn't have..." or "that's not like me".
2. Reflect the client's feeling about their own reaction.
3. Leave the contrast with the original feeling implicit at first.
4. In later sessions, help the client notice how the self-ideal works against the experience.
Example language: Finke: "Dass Sie so schroff reagierten, war Ihnen hinterher auch etwas peinlich." ("Reacting so curtly was also a bit embarrassing for you afterwards.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "Part of you seems to think you've no right to feel that."
Watch for: The client hearing it as criticism. Increased justification is a sign of defence, so return to A1 or A2. It is working if the client spontaneously names their self-standards and their cost [synthesis].

A5. Organism-related understanding (Organismusbezogenes Verstehen)

Purpose: Reach the attitude-shaping feelings and needs underneath, which are not yet fully symbolised (for example powerlessness, longing for recognition), and so reduce incongruence directly [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Steps:
1. Only after A1 to A4 have been taken up, tentatively name the need or vulnerability behind the reaction.
2. Offer it as a guess.
3. Stay with the client's bodily and emotional response before conceptualising.
Example language: Finke: "Da wurde etwas in Ihnen getroffen, was Sie auch ohnmächtig machte." ("Something in you was hit that also made you feel powerless.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "Maybe underneath the anger there's a wish just to be seen as having done enough."
Watch for: Premature depth, which brings retraction, intellectualising or anxiety. Go back up a level and proceed in small steps [source: Finke 2004 p. 64 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019]. It is working if there is a felt shift, new emotion or a surprised recognition ("yes, that's it") [synthesis].

A6. Clarifying the life-history context (biographical interpretation)

Purpose: Link current experience and its organismic need to earlier relationship experiences, so that the pattern becomes understandable and can be integrated. This is the deepest and final stage [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005; Spielhofer 1999 citing Finke 1990 and 1994].
Steps:
1. Use only when the current feeling and need are clearly symbolised.
2. Offer the link tentatively, as a possible connection, ideally using material the client has already mentioned.
3. Ask how it resonates.
4. Return to the present.
Example language: Finke's verbatim example for this stage is not drawn on [uncertain]. Illustrative: "Being looked at like that, as if you'd failed again; I wonder whether that's a very old feeling, from long before your mother was ill."
Watch for: Interpretation imposed from theory instead of grown from the client's experience. It is working if the client adds their own memories and the present reaction becomes less puzzling or self-blaming to them [synthesis].

A7. Interaction-related understanding (Interaktionsbezogenes Verstehen)

Purpose: In the 2004 edition, a form of understanding focused on the client's interactions and relationship patterns. It stands between empathic understanding and relationship clarification [source: Stumm 2005].
Steps: The detailed procedure is not given in the sources [uncertain]. A plausible reading [synthesis]:
1. Reflect how the client experiences others and how they expect others to react.
2. Reflect how the client's own behaviour shapes those interactions.
3. Lead into relationship clarification (C1) when the pattern shows up with you.
Example language: Illustrative: "With your colleagues you seem to expect criticism before anything has been said."
Watch for: Blaming the client for others' reactions.

B1. Acknowledgment, turning toward and solidarity (Anerkennen, Zuwenden, Sorge/Solidarität)

Purpose: Take a severely distressed client's experience seriously without minimising it, offering interest, acknowledgment and solidarity. This is one way unconditional acceptance becomes explicit. Indicated especially in severe depression and crisis [source: Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Steps:
1. Let the client describe the suffering without correcting or reframing it.
2. Acknowledge its seriousness.
3. Express solidarity as an I-message (Ich-Botschaft).
4. Mix with brief empathic reflections.
Example language: Illustrative: "I'm on your side in this, and I take seriously how dark it is for you right now."
Watch for: Premature reassurance, which signals that the depth of suffering wasn't grasped. It is working if the client feels less alone, stays in contact and talks more openly [synthesis].

B2. Confirming (Bestätigen)

Purpose: Acknowledge the extent of the suffering and the client's capacity to bear it, which stabilises self-worth [source: Finke 2006].
Steps:
1. After the client describes distress, reflect how hard it is.
2. Implicitly recognise their endurance.
Example language: Finke: "Es ist sicher sehr schwer für Sie, diesen Zustand jetzt auszuhalten." ("It must be very hard for you to bear this state now.") [source: Finke 2006]. Illustrative: "And still you got up and came here today."
Watch for: It sounding formulaic if repeated. It is working if the client's self-criticism about "not coping" eases [synthesis].

B3. Encouraging (Ermutigen)

Purpose: Offer, as the therapist's own conviction, a counter-position to pessimism and hopelessness, especially in severe depression. Use only after acknowledgment has been established [source: Finke 2006; Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019]. Teusch also describes encouraging as an intervention in anxiety disorders [source: Stumm & Keil 2014 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Steps:
1. Make sure B1 and B2 have landed.
2. Speak in the first person about your realistic hope or experience.
3. Do not argue with the client's pessimism.
4. Return to empathic understanding.
Example language: Finke: "Ich bin aber davon überzeugt, dass es Ihnen schon bald wieder deutlich besser gehen wird." ("I am convinced you will soon feel clearly better again.") [source: Finke 2006]. In the depression chapter Finke also has the therapist mention having seen many patients' dark world gradually brighten [source: Stumm & Keil 2014 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019]. Illustrative: "I've seen this kind of darkness lift for people, step by step."
Watch for: Encouragement given before acknowledgment feels dismissive. Don't promise specific outcomes. It is working if hope or a small step toward activity appears [synthesis].

C1. Relationship clarification (Beziehungsklären)

Purpose: Take up the client's experience of, and expectations toward, the therapist in the here and now. Clarify stereotyped expectations (of rejection, criticism or lack of understanding) and correct them, linking them to dysfunctional interaction patterns and past relationships [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2006]. Finke modelled it on Carkhuff's "immediacy". In 1994 it was filed under genuineness. In 2004 it sits between interaction-related understanding and the therapist's position-taking [source: Stumm 2005].
What to listen for:
- (a) Explicit relationship addresses (Beziehungsansprachen): the client states fears, hopes or wishes about the therapist, often seeking reassurance, approval or protection from criticism.
- (b) Implicit allusions (Beziehungsanspielungen):
  - generalised statements ("men", "people like you");
  - a third person who really stands for the therapist;
  - persistent negative attributions (for example assuming the therapist is impatient).
- (c) Nonverbal or avoidant behaviour: silence, small talk, demonstrative complaining [source: Finke 2020].
Steps:
1. Recognise the relationship reference and take it up; never pass over it.
2. Explore the client's expectations and fears about you.
3. Identify the interaction pattern and, when the client is ready, link it to earlier relationships.
4. If the client withdraws, name the distance empathically rather than becoming distant yourself.
5. Check the impact of what you said [source: Finke 2020].
Choosing the response:
- If the client mainly needs calming, answer a personal question directly (self-disclosure), which builds trust.
- If the client can bear it, clarify (relationship clarification), which deepens self-exploration.
- If unsure, combine both [source: Finke 2020].
Example language:
- Finke: "Sie befürchten, dass auch ich für Sie kein wirkliches Verständnis haben könnte." ("You fear that I, too, might not really understand you.")
- Finke: "Wie wirkt das jetzt auf Sie, wenn ich das so sage?" ("How does it affect you when I put it that way?") [source: Finke 2020].
- Finke (hidden anger in depression): "Manchmal sind Sie vielleicht auch mit mir etwas unzufrieden oder gar regelrecht enttäuscht?" ("Perhaps you are sometimes dissatisfied, even disappointed, with me?") [source: Finke 2006].
- Illustrative (client asks whether the therapist has children): "Perhaps you're wondering whether I can understand you at all if I haven't been through this myself?"
Watch for: The client experiencing clarification as deflection of a sincere question; then answer it as well. It is working if the client voices doubts or anger toward you more directly and you can talk about it without rupture [synthesis].

C2. Self-disclosure / self-involvement (Selbstöffnen, Selbsteinbringen)

The therapist expresses their own real, congruent reaction (as an I-message). The aims are to give a corrective relationship experience, show that negative feelings can be shared and resolved, and sharpen the client's sense of where self ends and other begins. Finke sees the last aim as important for borderline clients [source: Finke 2020].

Indications: Mainly clients who need a responsive significant other: personality disorders, acute crisis, and functioning impaired by stressful events [source: Finke 2006].
Preconditions: Know the client and their resilience first, and choose timing, wording and dosage carefully [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
Risks: Emotional entanglement, being misunderstood, hurting or discouraging the client, and sliding into everyday chat [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
Dimensions: Finke distinguishes positive resonance (supporting and resource-activating) from confronting or questioning statements. He refers to Carkhuff's five-level scale for rating self-disclosure, which is not reproduced here [source: Finke 2020].

Finke's subforms (C2a–C2g) follow.

C2a. Sharing approving participation (Mitteilen von zustimmender Anteilnahme)

Purpose: Affirm through visible engagement and agreement.
Steps: When the client reports a success or brave step, say in the first person that you are glad about it.
Example language: Finke: "Ich freue mich, dass Sie das geschafft haben." ("I'm glad you managed that.") [source: Finke 2020].
Watch for: Approval becoming a new condition of worth. Balance it with acceptance of setbacks [synthesis].

C2b. Sharing similarity (Mitteilen von Ähnlichkeit)

Purpose: Reduce isolation and convey solidarity by indicating that you know similar feelings.
Steps: Keep it brief and general, then return the focus to the client at once.
Example language: Finke: "Ich kenne solch quälenden Zweifel." ("I know such tormenting doubt.") [source: Finke 2020].
Watch for: Telling your own story at length; the client starting to care for you [synthesis].

C2c. Sharing appraisals and positive evaluations (Mitteilen von Beurteilungen)

Purpose: Highlight strengths and encourage the client, as praise phrased as an I-message.
Steps: Name a concrete achievement or quality, and own the evaluation as yours.
Example language: Finke: "Ich bewundere Sie, dass Sie eine so schwierige Situation durchgestanden haben." ("I admire how you got through such a hard situation.") [source: Finke 2020].
Watch for: Disbelief or discomfort in clients with low self-worth. Reflect that reaction empathically [synthesis].

C2d. Offering an alternative way of experiencing (Anbieten einer alternativen Erlebnisweise)

Purpose: Model a feeling the client may be defending against, for example anger after being mistreated or pride after an achievement. Typically introduced with "in your place, I..." [source: Finke 2020].
Steps:
1. Notice the absence of an expectable feeling.
2. Offer your own probable reaction as an I in your place statement.
3. Leave the client free to reject it.
4. Explore their response.
Example language: Finke: "An Ihrer Stelle würde mich das aber ziemlich ärgern." ("In your place that would annoy me quite a bit.") [source: Finke 2020].
Watch for: The client adopting the feeling to please you. A good sign is that they discover a version of their own [synthesis].

C2e. Confrontation with observation (Konfrontation mit Beobachtung)

Purpose: Feed back a discrepancy you notice, together with your own emotional reaction, which makes it less shaming. Examples are a mismatch between verbal and nonverbal expression, or behaviour that runs against the client's stated goals. Finke modelled this on Carkhuff's confrontation and classes it under self-involvement when phrased as an I-message [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2006; Stumm 2005].
Steps:
1. Wait until the alliance is established.
2. Describe the observation concretely.
3. State your own reaction (irritation, concern).
4. Invite the client's view.
5. Return to empathic understanding of what the discrepancy means.
Example language: Finke: "Es irritiert mich, dass Sie jetzt scheinbar so ganz cool bleiben." ("It puzzles me that you seem to stay so cool now.") [source: Finke 2006]. Finke also gives an example of voicing concern that a planned action contradicts the client's own goals [source: Finke 2020]. Illustrative: "I notice I'm worried. You've said you want to stop drinking, and now you're planning the stag weekend."
Watch for: Shame, defensive justification or a rupture. If these appear, switch to relationship clarification (C1). It is working if the client becomes curious about the discrepancy [synthesis].

C2f. Sharing negative emotional resonance (Mitteilen der negativen emotionalen Resonanz)

Purpose: Show that you are affected and open to closeness, and help clients with limited empathy see how their behaviour lands on others. The aim is mutual understanding, not retaliation [source: Finke 2020].
Steps:
1. Check that your feeling is persistent and relevant to the client's patterns, and not just your own issue.
2. Express it in the first person, owning it, with a link to the concrete behaviour.
3. Explore together.
Example language: Finke: "Es macht mich traurig zu hören, wie unachtsam Sie zu sich selbst sind." ("It saddens me to hear how carelessly you treat yourself.") [source: Finke 2020]. Finke also gives an example of admitting annoyance and hurt that the client never takes up the therapist's questions [source: Finke 2020].
Watch for: Hurting fragile clients; use only with a stable alliance. It is working if the client takes up the effect on you and links it to other relationships [synthesis].

C2g. Sharing perplexity (therapist transparency about being stuck)

Purpose: Make the therapist's own uncertainty transparent so that the impasse becomes a joint task. Finke notes that this requires an advanced stage with established trust [source: Finke 2006].
Steps: Say briefly that you feel at a loss about how to go on, then invite the client's view.
Example language: Illustrative: "I feel rather at a loss right now; I'm not sure where we should go from here. How is it for you?"
Watch for: The client experiencing this as being abandoned or blamed.

Answering personal questions

Purpose: A short, honest answer can calm an anxious client and build trust [source: Finke 2020].
Steps: Decide whether to answer, clarify (C1), or both. If you answer, then explore what the answer means for the client.
Example language: Finke: "Was bedeutet diese Information jetzt für Sie?" ("What does this information mean for you now?") [source: Finke 2020].

C3. Position-taking (Stellungnahme)

Purpose: In the 2004 book, the therapist's explicit statement of their own position, framed as a dialogic act next to relationship clarification [source: Stumm 2005].
Steps: The procedure is not described in the sources [uncertain]. In practice it overlaps with C2c and C2e [synthesis].

D1. Working with defence (Abwehr-Bearbeitung)

Purpose: Help the client approach warded-off experience. Empathic understanding and relationship clarification are applied in small steps, close to experience, so that the client is led gradually toward insights [source: Finke 2004 p. 64 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019]. Abwehr-Bearbeitung is a chapter heading in the 2024 book [source: Reinhardt 2024 TOC].
Steps:
1. Notice the defence: retraction, intellectualising, changing topic, a smile that doesn't fit.
2. Go back to a level of understanding the client can accept.
3. Reflect the defence itself empathically, as the client's understandable need for self-protection.
4. Approach the warded-off feeling again later, one step deeper.
Example language: Illustrative: "It seems important right now not to go too close to that."
Watch for: Pushing through defences, which leads to anxiety or dropout [synthesis].

D2. Working with retraction of a feeling

Purpose: When a client takes back a feeling they just expressed (for example "I'm not really that angry"), first side with their conceptual self, then gradually work on the self-ideal that forbids the feeling [source: Finke 2011].
Steps:
1. Reflect the retraction without contradicting it.
2. Later, explore what it would mean to feel that, and which inner standard objects to it (A4).
Example language: Finke: "Sie meinen, so wütend sind Sie dann doch wieder nicht." ("You mean you're not that angry after all.") [source: Finke 2011].

D3. Pre-logical understanding (Prälogisches Verstehen)

Purpose: Stay close to organismic experience by circling the central feeling and its range of meanings before putting it into any logical order. This helps the client discover new facets of the feeling [source: Finke 2011].
Steps:
1. Name the central feeling.
2. Offer one or two vivid variations of it, often bodily.
3. Follow the client's corrections.
Example language: Finke: "Die Wut schnürt Ihnen regelrecht die Luft ab." ("The rage literally chokes off your breath.") [source: Finke 2011].

D4. Imagery-based understanding (Bildhaftes Verstehen / Imaginationen)

Purpose: Reach experience hidden behind everyday rationality and social evaluation through images and metaphors, then translate them into precise concepts the self-concept can integrate [source: Leseprobe Finke 2013; Finke 2011].
Steps:
1. Imaginative phase:
  - Use vivid, concrete language and take up the client's metaphors with goodwill.
  - Translate abstract states into images, for example hopelessness as a grey, heavy sky.
  - Share your own images.
  - Gently invite images to arise.
  - Leave ambiguity and contradictions open.
2. Conceptual phase: Decode the felt meaning together and link the central feeling to other feelings, needs or intentions.
3. Return to imagery: Anchor the insight emotionally.
Finke's limits on imagery: He advises against structured guided-imagery exercises, because they interrupt the flow of experiencing. Offer imagination sparingly, as a gentle request [source: Leseprobe Finke 2013; PERSON review of Finke 2013].
Example language:
- Finke: "Da hab ich jetzt das Bild von einem einsamen Meeresstrand vor Augen." ("I now picture a lonely beach.")
- Finke: "Lassen Sie zu dieser Vorstellung Bilder in sich aufsteigen." ("Let images rise in you around this idea.") [source: Leseprobe Finke 2013].
Watch for: Translating images into concepts too early. It is working if new, emotionally charged meaning emerges [source: Leseprobe Finke 2013].

D5. Dream and fairy-tale work

Purpose: Use dreams and fairy tales as material for self-exploration, understanding them by consensus [source: PERSON review of Finke 2013; e-bookshelf Leseprobe Finke 2013/2020].
Steps: Finke uses a two-step dream procedure, but its steps are not drawn on [uncertain]. A plausible version, consistent with D4 [synthesis]:
1. Let the client re-experience the dream images and feelings.
2. Jointly work out what they may mean for the client's current self-experience, keeping other readings open.

E. Disorder-specific emphases

Depression:
- Start with a supportive phase (B1–B3) mixed with empathic understanding.
- Alternate empathic phases of about 5–10 minutes with dialogue interventions.
- Thematically, move from the client's self-aggression toward carefully explored aggression at others, practising it first in the relationship (C1) [source: Finke 2006; Stumm & Keil 2014 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Anxiety disorders: Teusch's chapter on Finke's approach uses encouraging (B3) and confronting [source: Stumm & Keil 2014 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019]. Details are not drawn on [uncertain].
Personality disorders:
- Self-disclosure (C2) is especially indicated.
- In borderline clients it sharpens the self–other distinction [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
- Finke assumes a deficit of the actualising tendency in personality disorders; Stumm disputes this [source: Stumm 2005].
Somatoform pain, paranoid schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, eating disorders, combination with medication: These are chapters in the 2004 and 2024 books, but their content is not drawn on [uncertain].

5. Handling problems

Each problem is tagged as source-based or [synthesis] (this guide's own guidance, consistent with Finke's principles).

Client stuck at the report level (narrates events, no feeling).
- Stay with A1 (repetition that shifts the emphasis toward experience), then A2 (name the dominant feeling) and A3 (the concrete moment) [source: Finke 2006].
- If the client is still stuck, try imagery (D4) or pre-logical circling of the feeling (D3) [source: Finke 2011; Leseprobe Finke 2013].
- Do not jump to A5 or A6 [synthesis].
Client retracts or plays down a feeling, or intellectualises (defence).
- Side with the conceptual self first (D2).
- Proceed in small steps (D1).
- Reflect the self-protective need behind the defence before the warded-off feeling [source: Finke 2011; Finke 2004 p. 64 via Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Overwhelm: a severely depressed or fragile client cannot reflect.
- Switch to the supportive phase (B1 to B3).
- Keep empathic sequences short and intersperse confirming statements.
- Postpone A5/A6, confrontation and negative resonance [source: Finke 2006].
- For a fragile self (low tolerance of anxiety and ambivalence), lower the depth and increase visible warmth [source: Reinhardt 2024 Leseprobe; synthesis].
Hopelessness and suicidal thoughts in depression.
- Acknowledge before encouraging (B1 then B3) [source: Finke 2006].
- Carry out a standard structured suicide risk assessment, plan safety (including lethal-means counselling about secure storage or removal) and involve psychiatric care or medication review where indicated. These steps are not described in the sources [synthesis]. Finke's books include a chapter on combining the therapy with pharmacotherapy (not drawn on).
Client asks a personal question or demands advice or reassurance.
- Decide whether to answer (self-disclosure), clarify (relationship clarification) or combine both, according to how much reassurance versus exploration the client can use [source: Finke 2020].
- After answering, ask what the answer means to them ("Was bedeutet diese Information jetzt für Sie?") [source: Finke 2020].
- For repeated requests for advice, reflect the wish to be guided and the fear of deciding alone; offer process steering, not content directives [synthesis; consistent with Wittke & Biermann-Ratjen 2019].
Client seeks constant agreement.
- Use relationship clarification. Finke's example: "Nur wenn ich Ihnen jedes Mal zustimme, scheinen Sie sich Ihrer Sache sicher zu sein." ("Only when I agree with you each time do you seem sure of yourself.") [source: Finke 2020].
Client doubts the therapist can understand ("you have no children").
- Take it up as a relationship address and explore the fear of not being understood (C1) [source: Finke 2020].
Implicit hostility or distance (silence, small talk, complaining about "therapists" or "doctors").
- Treat it as a relationship allusion (C1). Do not respond with distance; name the distance empathically.
- In depression, invite hidden disappointment with you, since the relationship is a safer place to voice aggression [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2006].
Ruptures after confrontation or self-disclosure.
- Acknowledge the impact ("Wie wirkt das jetzt auf Sie...") [source: Finke 2020].
- Take your share of responsibility, return to empathic understanding of the hurt, and revisit the issue later with more scaffolding [synthesis].
- Prevention: confront only with an established alliance, phrase it as an I-message with your own feeling, and check the client's resilience first [source: Finke 2006; Finke 2020].
Therapist's persistent negative feelings (boredom, irritation, hurt).
- Do not hide them long-term; the client senses incongruence.
- After self-reflection, share them as C2f in a form the client can use [source: Finke 2020; Finke 2011].
- Use supervision or personal therapy (Selbsterfahrung) when the feeling is mainly your own [source: Finke 2011; synthesis].
Self-disclosure slides into chat or role reversal.
- Keep disclosures brief, purposeful and followed by a return to the client [source: Finke 2020].
- If the client starts to look after you, reflect that and resume the alter-ego stance [synthesis].
Non-adherence. Finke's method has no homework, so non-adherence mainly shows as missed sessions, lateness or avoidance in session [synthesis]. Treat these as relationship allusions and clarify the expectation behind them (C1) rather than issuing rules [synthesis; consistent with Finke 2020].
Encouragement backfires ("you don't get how bad it is").
- Return to acknowledgment and confirming (B1, B2); encouragement only works after acknowledgment [source: Finke 2006].
Images or dreams lead nowhere, or the client finds imagery odd.
- Use imagery sparingly, as a gentle offer, never as a mandatory exercise [source: PERSON review of Finke 2013].
- Stay with the client's own metaphors rather than introducing techniques [source: e-bookshelf Leseprobe Finke 2013/2020].
Interpretation rejected (A6).
- Treat understanding as consensus: drop or revise the link and return to the present feeling [source: e-bookshelf Leseprobe Finke 2013/2020; synthesis].
Paranoid or highly mistrustful clients.
- Finke's 2024 book has chapters on paranoid personality and paranoid schizophrenia, but they are not drawn on [uncertain].
- Cautious suggestion [synthesis]: favour transparent, low-intensity relationship clarification and simple, honest answers over interpretation and confrontation.

Sources

Sources:

Further reading (not drawn on directly):

Finke, J. (1990). Die lebensgeschichtliche Perspektive im klientenzentrierten Therapieprozeß. In Meyer-Cording & Speierer (Eds.), Gesundheit und Krankheit. Köln: GwG.
Finke, J. (1994). Empathie und Interaktion. Methodik und Praxis der Gesprächspsychotherapie. Stuttgart: Thieme.
Finke, J. (1999). Beziehung und Intervention. Stuttgart: Thieme.
Finke, J. (2004). Gesprächspsychotherapie. Grundlagen und spezifische Anwendungen (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: Thieme.
Finke, J. (2005). Beziehung und Technik. PERSON, 9(1), 51–64.
Finke, J. & Teusch, L. (2002). Die störungsspezifische Perspektive in der Personzentrierten Psychotherapie. In Keil & Stumm (Eds.), Die vielen Gesichter der Personzentrierten Psychotherapie. Wien: Springer.
Finke, J. (2013). Träume, Märchen, Imaginationen. Personzentrierte Psychotherapie und Beratung mit Bildern und Symbolen. München: Reinhardt.
Finke, J. (2024). Personzentrierte Psychotherapie und Beratung: Störungstheorie, Beziehungskonzepte, Therapietechnik (2nd ed.). München: Reinhardt.
Stumm, G. & Keil, W. (Eds.) (2014). Praxis der Personzentrierten Psychotherapie. Wien: Springer (Finke on depression; Teusch on anxiety).
Swildens, H. (1991). Prozessorientierte Gesprächspsychotherapie. Köln: GwG.
Rogers, C. R. (1977). Therapeut und Klient (German ed.). München: Kindler.

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