The mediating role of meaning in life between the therapeutic relationship and therapy outcome in person-centered and experiential psychotherapies

ABSTRACT Meaning in life is generally not considered to be one of the most central aspects of person-centered and experiential therapies. However, Carl Rogers described how clients found purpose in life by going through a process that helped them to connect to their inner experiencing. This process was evoked by an empathic, accepting, and genuine therapeutic relationship and resulted in positive therapy outcome. Recently, scholars have also stressed the importance of the therapeutic alliance to foster meaning-making processes in therapy. Meaning in life is also related to well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study is to test whether meaning in life would mediate between therapeutic alliance and therapy outcome in person-centered and experiential psychotherapies. Our sample consisted of 96 outpatients nested within 23 therapists. Using multilevel modeling, we found that meaning in life indeed mediates between the therapeutic relationship and therapy outcome. This suggests that meaning in life might actually be at the very core of person-centered and experiential therapies, and therefore deserves the attention of clinicians as well as theorists. Our results support the idea that the therapeutic bond might foster meaning(-making processes) in therapy, leading to better therapy outcome. However, this idea should be explored further using longitudinal methods.