An Exploratory Study on the Applicability of Consultation in the TAE Program

This study attempted to explore the applicability of Thinking At the Edge (Gendlin, 2004), a thinking method made with the same philosophy as focusing, a psychotherapy theory. For that, the TAE program was conducted for 4 women in their 20s and 30s for 4 sessions from July 22 to August 12, 2019, and a follow-up interview was conducted 3 months after the end of the program. In order to examine the contents of the participants’ experiences by session and the changes after the program was terminated, the analysis was performed using a qualitative case study method. The results are as follows. First, TAE helped participants deal with felt-sense related to negative emotions without avoiding it. Second, it was found that TAE helps participants quickly grasp patterns of behavior and emotions as well as automatic thinking. Third, TAE helped to recognize the need for change. Participants who confirmed their patterns that repeatedly appear in other events felt the need for change. Reflection, not confrontation from others, accepted the need for change to themselves without feeling rejected by the participants. In this study, it was confirmed that TAE’s ability to deal with negative emotions, rapid automatic thinking and behavior, recognition of emotions, and reflection on rigid consistency can play a positive role when applied to writing therapy or psychological counseling. In the discussion, the significance and limitations of this study were discussed based on the results of this study.