Korean Clients’ Perspectives on the Real Relationship in Counseling: A Qualitative Inquiry

The real relationship—genuine, reality-based perception between counselor and client—is central to the therapeutic alliance but has been studied largely from counselors’ viewpoints. This study examines clients’ perspectives and the culturally situated formation of real relationships in Korea. Seventeen adult clients who could vividly describe such experiences completed in-depth interviews. Using grounded theory (open, axial, and selective coding), we identified a six-stage, cyclical process: Beginning of Guardedness, Emergence of Trust, Emotional Collision, Acceptance of Reality, Reconstruction of the Relationship, and Sustaining Change. Progression through these stages was iterative and shaped clients’ psychological change and counseling outcomes. The trajectory moves from initial guardedness to trust fostered by counselor genuineness and acceptance, through dependency and disappointment, toward recognizing counselor limitations and consolidating growth. Findings clarify client-side mechanisms of real relationship development in a collectivist context. This study broadens real relationship theory by integrating culturally specific expressions of authenticity within collectivist therapeutic contexts.