Author: Xiangyi Wang
I am a doctoral student in Psychotherapy and Counselling at the University of Edinburgh, and a counsellor in training working with clients in both face-to-face and online settings. My research interest in mirroring emerged from my clinical experience of working online, where moments of feeling seen and understood can feel both intensified and uncertain. I became particularly interested in how the presence of the screen, and the possibility of seeing oneself while being seen by another, may shape the experience of connection in therapy. Drawing on person-centred and psychodynamic perspectives, I am interested in how relational depth, recognition, and emotional attunement are experienced and negotiated in online therapeutic spaces. This research reflects my ongoing curiosity about what it means to feel seen and how this may be transformed in digital contexts.What does it feel like to be truly seen — through a screen? In online therapy, we meet through a camera.We see each other — and often, we also see ourselves. But what happens to the feeling of being understood?Does it change when the connection is mediated by a screen? I am a doctoral researcher […]
