The Lived Experience of Using Watson’s Actual Caring Occasion to Treat Depressed Women

Abstract

Each year, 19 million clients are treated for depressive episodes lasting 6 to 12 months. With depression's economic costs between 16 to 43 billion dollars annually, managed care has reduced clinician time, currently averaging 25 minutes per visit. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the essential structure of the lived experience of depressed women who enter therapy and experience Watson's actual caring occasion (ACO) within the transpersonal caring relationship (TCR). A purposive sample of 11 depressed women related their subjective experiences in therapy over 6 months. Spiegelberg's phenomenological method was used for data analysis of 110 pages of therapist's notes transcribed verbatim. Five essential themes emerged from data analysis. All participants stated Watson's ACO caused them to persist in treatment and adopt health-seeking behaviors. This finding supports the expense of appropriate clinician time for holistic healing in the TCR.