The experience of interpersonal connection

The purpose of the study was to describe the human experience of interpersonal connection. The dialogical method of existential phenomenology was utilized to arrive at a description of the experience. Twelve participants were recruited from the general population and were interviewed in unstructured interviews regarding their experiences of connection. The interviews were transcribed and the transcripts were interpreted using a hermeneutic approach. The analysis resulted in a thematic structure comprised of four interrelated themes: Being Present to Each Other, Openness, History and Possibilities, and Feels Good. The experience of interpersonal connection was described as a sense of mutuality, feelings of trust and openness, an awareness of the history and/or future possibilities of the relationship, and a sense of pleasure in the encounter with another person. In addition, some participants described their experiences of connection is being "intense." For some of these participants, pleasurable aspects of connection were heightened by the intensity; for others, intensity of the interpersonal interaction became overwhelming, and these participants felt a need to "dis-connect." Present results were discussed in terms of their relevance for psychoanalytic theory, the existential philosophies of Buber and Merleau- Ponty, and the empirical and theoretical literatures on social cognition in relationships, on love, and on loneliness. Implications for the practice of clinical psychology were also discussed.