The Impact of Therapist Mind Wandering on Session Quality in In‐Person and Online Counselling Sessions: An Experimental Pilot Study

ABSTRACT Background Despite individuals spending at least one‐third of their awake time mind wandering and the anecdotal issue of therapist mind wandering, especially in online sessions, no research has yet examined the impact of therapists' mind wandering on the session quality. In the present study, we examined the impact of therapists' spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering on counselling session quality in in‐person and online settings, using a novel experimental study paradigm. Method Two therapists conducted standardised university counselling sessions (one online and one in‐person) with 29 clients in total. Therapists and clients completed post‐session measures of session quality, the therapeutic relationship, the therapeutic presence and positive and negative affect as well as a pre‐session sleepiness measure. Results We found that therapists' spontaneous (but not deliberate) mind wandering was negatively associated with therapist, but unrelated to client session evaluations, and that even though therapists reported similar mind wandering in both formats, mind wandering in online sessions appeared more detrimental to therapist‐perceived session quality. Conclusion This study supported the significance and feasibility of studying mind wandering in counselling research. The findings indicate that spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering may have different roles in counselling sessions, with only the former showing a negative link with session quality. Future research should establish the impact of mind wandering on longer therapeutic processes.